Pokemon: Legends Of Cataria
by bradtruck
Summary: 16 year old Ryder Reigns lives a quiet life in the small northern town of Glacia, on his family's Piloswine ranch, but he cant help but want to leave the small town and explore the world. But when his world is turned upside down by a mysterious group that come to Glacia, Ryder is forced to leave, and start a new life, friends, and a way to stop the theives from creating a new evil.
1. Chapter 1: The beginning

**Pokemon: Legends of Cataria**

**Chapter 1:**

The snow fell from the dark night sky like a frozen white blanket over the tiny town of Glacia, the most northern settlement of the Catarian Region. The main resources were the mines, especially the salt mine that sat at the edge of town. Any further north would lead to only wilderness, and eventually the northern ocean, littered with icebergs.

Ryder Reigns lay awake in his warm bed, with a Pokeball sitting on his bare chest.

He was sixteen, with shaggy light brown hair, which was almost always hidden under a tuque, piercing blue eyes, lightly tanned skin and a lean but muscular build. He stood at five foot nine inches, and had a coiling Seviper tattoo, that slithered from his left shoulder, down to his wrist.

Ryder's family never had much money, mostly making a living ranching Piloswine, on their frozen farm, where he grew up. the money was enough for them to get by on, but never enough for them to leave this frozen tundra.

Ryder didn't exactly hate Glacia, but wanted to move on and see the rest of the world. He had only left the town once, when his parents took him to the Pokemon Reserve on the southern tip of Cataria, but Ryder was only three, and too young to remember.

He now laid awake, contemplating on running away, he knew the area well, but beyond the snow and ice, knew nothing of the world outside his frozen home, he wanted to see the big city and get away from all of this.

Ryder's big dream was to stud, ancient and extinct pokemon in the capital city of Apollox, and travel the world, researching and discovering, rare and legendary pokemon.

It was spring time now, and all of the Beartic would be moving south, away from the melting waters, which meant that Ryder's father's farm was at a high risk of losing precious Pokemon to animal attacks, not to mention the increasing number of Sneasels that were being pushed from the northern mountain by Glacian miners, who had recently uncovered a new strange stone that inhibited the abilities of ice pokemon. They were shy pokemon, but when threatened, their razor like claws could slice through even the thickest protection. Ryder's mom's brother worked at the salt mine at the edge of Glacia.

Ryder shook his head, trying to push the thought of running out of his head. _I can't leave, _he thought, _my family needs me._

Eventually, the fatigue took over, and around 3:00AM, Ryder drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Swinub attack!

**Chapter 2:**

Ryder was awoken at 6:30AM, by the annoying buzzing of his alarm clock, that sat on the end table, which was next to his bed.

He reached out, attempting to hit the snooze button, while keeping warm under his blankets, and his pokeball went toppling off of his chest, rolling onto the wooden floor, and under the bed.

"UGH!" He rolled himself out of bed and onto the floor, bending down, reaching under the bed, and pulling back the now shrunken and compacted pokeball.

Ryder stood up and stretched, clipping the pokeball onto the silver chain that he wore around his neck.

The chain and the pokemon were a gift from his grandfather, who was a researcher, and disappeared when Ryder was only six, while on an expedition north, to find evidence of a Mamoswine, which was supposed to have become extinct after the last ice age. He had left Ryder the chain and the pokemon inside, right before he left, but the pokeball, Ryder had gotten it for his birthday last may.

"This pokemon will be yours forever and you must take care of him and raise him as your own now", Ryder's grandfather told him.

Ryder, tears streaming down his face tried to protest, and hold his grandfather back as best as he could, but in the end, his grandfather left with his team anyway.

Ryder had never forgotten that day, and swore that no matter what, he would find his grandfather, and the legendary pokemon that he hunted.

Ryder walked to his closet, and grabbed a black pair of thick Mareep wool pants, and a thick sweater, before heading to the washroom to shower.

He stripped down quickly, turned the hot water on, jumped in the shower and scrubbed himself down, before hopping back out and dressing.

Ryder walked out into the hallway, down the wooden stairs and into the kitchen, where his mother was making breakfast.

She was a short fair skinned woman, in her late forties, with blonde hair, and blue eyes.

"Morning mom," Ryder said, as he sat down at the dark, cherry wood table.

"Good morning Ryder", she replied, turning and smiling at him, before quickly returning to her cooking.

"Where's dad?" He asked.

"He just went down to the barn to check on the Piloswine, they seemed nervous".

Ryder nodded.

His mother turned around and carried a plate of bacon and toast over to Ryder, along with a glass of Moomoo milk, which Ryder, extremely hungry, scarfed it down eagerly.

Suddenly the door burst open and a little voice shouted, "Ryder! Come quick! Flareon's eggs are hatching!"

Ryder jumped up from the table, and ran to the door, where his little sister Amanda, was jumping up and down excitedly. She was tiny, only eight years old, and looked just like her mother. She was dressed in a puffy Swanna down jacket to keep her warm from the freezing winds.

Ryder grabbed his white jacket from the coat rack next to the door, threw it on quickly, and ran out after Amanda.

The wind was calm, but the cold was still biting Ryder's cheeks and nose as he stepped out into the wakening world.

The sun was beginning to rise over the forest to the east, and Ryder was able to see the ranch around him.

The sky was clear at the moment, but that tended to change quickly in Glacia, and Ryder could see the wooden fences, that held the pokemon, and beyond that, the dark masses of sleeping Piloswine and Swinub.

Directly in front of that was a large black barn, with the door open, and Ryder could see light flickering from inside.

They jogged through the inch of snow that was on the ground, to the barn, and crept inside, where Ryder saw his father, kneeling over his Flareon, his prized pokemon, that he used to defend the ranch from rogue ice pokemon.

"Come on in guys", Ryder's father said, without having to turn around, "The show is about to begin".

Ryder and Amanda walked quietly up behind their father, and kneeled down, watching the Flareon and her clutch of seven, wiggling eggs, beneath her.

Ryder's father wasn't quite sure how his Flareon became pregnant, but guessed that she had spent some time among one of the many packs of Glaceon that roamed around during the winter months. They were mostly calm, and rarely came to the ranch, unless food was extremely scarce, in which they would try to take a young Swinub.

Ryder's father was a tall, but wide man, with a bald head, that was always covered with a tuque like Ryder's and he had all of the same features that Ryder had inherited.

Suddenly, the first egg cracked, and Ryder could see the fur ball writhing its way out of the egg, then a second, and soon all the newborn Eevees were free, and crawling to their mother for warmth and protection.

Ryder smiled, and Amanda began to giggle as the tiny brown and white Eevee pups began to suckle from their mother.

"They're so cute!" Amanda squealed, "I want one!"

Their father laughed loudly, "In time sweet heart", he said. "You can each choose an Eevee for your own".

Ryder's eyes lit up, and he grinned. _A new pokemon for my own_, he thought, _at this rate, I might have my chance to become a real pokemon trainer!_

Ryder's father stood up, and turned towards them, "Well I'm going to go and check on the Piloswine, the Johnsons from down the street said he saw two Cubchoos wandering around their yard last night".

Ryder nodded, where there's Cubchoo, there are bound to be the parents around somewhere.

"You guys stay here and keep an eye on Flareon and the pups, and if you'd like you can start to choose one", their father said, smiling.

He walked out, and Amanda squealed again and clapped quickly, then jumped closer to Flareon, looking over every Eevee, with a big smile on her face.

Ryder sat back, silently choosing his own new Eevee, while rolling the pokeball around his neck between his fingers.

Soon Ryder could feel the lack of sleep from the night before, and his eyes began to feel heavy. He laid back on a hay bale and closed his eyes.

It was no time before Ryder had fallen asleep.

He was awoken by a fuzzy and warm sensation, rubbing against his face. He tried to brush it away, but it only would come back and brush against him again. He opened his eyes and was staring face to face with one of the Eevee pups, who had wandered across the barn, and away from its mother. This one was strange. While most Eevees had green, or brown eyes, this Eevee had bright blue eyes, almost white.

Ryder smiled, sat up, and looked around. Amanda was gone, _probably back inside doing her chores, or helping mom in the kitchen_, Ryder thought. He bent over,and scooped up the little fur ball, carrying it back to where Flareon was busy tending to the other six pups.

Ryder gently placed the Eevee next to Flareon, and she sniffed it twice before, nudging it back down toward her stomach to feed with the rest.

Ryder noticed that it was much smaller than the other Eevees.

_He must be the runt of the litter,_ Ryder thought to himself.

Suddenly Flareon stiffened, and all of her raised up. She raised her head, sniffed the air and let out a low, menacing growl.

"What's wrong girl?" Ryder asked, "Do you smell something?"

That's when he heard the roar.

It was a deep, terrifying roar, that made him jump, and spin around. A moment later he heard a scream of pain. It was his father.

Ryder sprinted out of the barn, and turned toward the Piloswine pens, where he heard the roar and the scream, but he could barely see three feet in front of him.

The wind was whipping madly, and a massive snowstorm had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

He heard his father shouting, and the sound of panicking Piloswine from the pens about one hundred feet in front of him.

Ryder turned back to the barn, "Flareon, come on!" he yelled.

But she was standing, in front of her pups, ready to defend them at the slightest sense of danger, and Ryder knew she wouldn't abandon them, even to protect her trainer.

Ryder began to run towards the pens, and heard Amanda and their mother screaming from the direction of the house.

"Daddy!" Amanda screamed.

"John!" their mother yelled.

"Mom!" Ryder shouted, "Get Amanda inside!"

Ryder kept running until he reached the chest high, wooden fence, in which his jumped over with ease, before he finally saw what was happening.

A massive Beartic was standing over Ryder's collapsed father snarling, with teeth bared, about to strike, while her two Cubchoo babies were standing behind her, growling and squeaking, while the Piloswine were huddle on the far side of the pen, the males, with their sharp protruding tusk, surrounded the females and the Swinub, creating a barrier around them.

The world suddenly became very still.

Ryder could see every snowflake individually, he could see the blood on the snow, and count the bloody teeth in the Beartic's mouth. Without even thinking, he tore the Glacier ball from around his neck, hit the centre button to expand it, and before he knew what was going on, the ball was in the air, and opened.

Ryder's Swinub appeared from the white light of the pokeball, ready to battle.

This Swinub may have seemed like nothing special to anyone, but Ryder's grandfather told him that it was found as an egg, frozen in the ice deep in the far north, beyond where any sane person would dare venture, deep in the Frozen Spire, a cavernous mountain, in which almost anyone who set out to research it, either came back exhausted, not even making it to the mountain, or not at all. It was also where Ryder's grandfather had set out to find Mamoswine ten years ago.

This Swinub, was snow white, with dark brown stripes running down its back, as opposed to the light brown fur of the normal.

"Swinub, tackle!" Ryder shouted.

Swinub leapt forward, slamming its body into the Beartic, knocking it off balance, and sending them clashing to the ground.

Swinub leapt back, barely dodging the Beartic's slashing claws, as it rose up to its feet, and they squared up to battle.

"Use Powder Snow!" Ryder shouted.

The wind picked up speed, and barraged the Beartic with needle like ice, but the Beartic simply shrugged it off.

Ryder ran to help his father, who was desperately trying to crawl backwards away from the clashing pokemon. He had a deep bite mark in his left leg, and blood poured from it.

Swinub continued to hold off Beartic, charging it and using its body weight to tackle it, trying to scare it away, but the Beartic was simply too large and too angry to back down.

The Beartic opened its jaws wide, and Ryder could see a blue beam of light beginning to appear from between its jaws.

"Swinub, dodge it!" He yelled, but it was too late.

The ice beam shot with lightning speed from the Beartic's mouth, slamming hard into Swinub, and sending it sailing through the air, slamming it into a fence post.

"Swinub!"

The Beartic turned, and began to advance towards Ryder and his father, snarling in anger, while the Cubchoos seemed to growl in delight at the view of their next meal.

Ryder stood up, blocking the Beartic's path between it, and his father, ready to sacrifice himself to give his father a chance to escape.

The Beartic raised a paw to tear into Ryder, when suddenly, from the wall of falling snow, a ball of burning fire, shot from out of view, striking the Beartic, which roared in pain, and spiraled backwards, off balance, before crashing to the ground.

There was a flash of orange and black, and like a blur, a massive Arcanine, now stood between Ryder and the Beartic, growling threateningly its new opponent.

The Beartic rose to its feet, and Ryder could once again make out the whitish blue beam of light building in its mouth, when from out of view Ryder could hear a voice.

"Arcanine! Use flamethrower!" The mystery man shouted.

In the blink of an eye, the Arcanine opened its jaw wide, and a jet of fire was released, engulfing the Beartic, before it could even react.

From the veil of snow, two figures emerged.

Brandon Saunders, who owned the salt, and ice stone mines in the town, and easily was the richest man in the north. He was tall, thin and well dressed, with sleek silver hair, and light skin.

Next to him, was his son, Xander, Ryder's least favourite person in Glacia. He was a stuck up, snobby, jerk, who thought that because his family had money, he could get away with whatever he wanted. He was a spitting image of his father, with the sleek silver hair, fair skinned, and had the tall features that ran in the family.

Two Growlithes, leapt from behind them and stood next to the Arcanine, heads low and teeth bared.

"Growlithes, ember!" Xander shouted.

The two Growlithes opened their mouths, and a small jet of flames shot at the Beartic, which stood itself back up, injured. It roared once, as a last ditch effort to scare the opponents away, but in the end, it turned and fled back into the snow, with its two Cubchoos tailing quickly behind it.

Ryder, completely ignoring his saviours, turned and ran back to his father, who was now white as a ghost, and losing consciousness.

"Dad!" he shouted, "Hang in there, you're going to be alright!"

Ryder looked at the wound in his father's leg. It was still bleeding immensely, and Ryder could almost see right down to the bone.

Brandon knelt down beside Ryder, and put a hand on Ryder's father's shoulder.

"John?" he yelled, "its Brandon, help is on the way".

As if on cue, a sled, being drawn by two Rapidash, pulled into the pen, ready to take John to the hospital. The brands on the Rapidash's necks, was the Saunders family chest. A rearing Arcanine, with cross swords behind it.

_Must be nice to have that much money, _Ryder thought.

The driver of the sled hopped off, and he and Brandon carefully picked up John, and carried him to the sled.

As Ryder watch he suddenly remembered, _Swinub!_, he thought, and quickly turned and raced to where his Swinub was laying in the snow, snorting lightly.

"You're alright buddy, let's get you some rest".

Ryder took the pokeball, and pointed it to Swinub, and it returned to the pokeball's safety.

Brandon and his driver finished loading John into the sled, and Brandon returned his Arcanine and one of the Growlithes to their pokeballs, before hopping on the sled, and transporting John to the nearest hospital.

Ryder stood up, shaken from the events that had just passed, and noticed that Xander, along with his own Growlithe were still standing there watching him.

"Maybe your family should invest in some decent pokemon, instead of these stupid pigs." Xander said with a smirk, "then my father and I wouldn't have to get a call from your mother to come and save your sorry hides".

Ryder mind filled with rage, and he stepped towards Xander to strike at him, but his path was barred by Xander's Growlithe, ready to defend its trainer.

"Nice try there buddy", Xander said, "Growlithe lets take care of this weakling, I doubt anyone will even notice, he's gone".

Ryder tensed, as the Growlithe couched, ready to pounce.

Suddenly the ground began to shake beneath them, and the Growlithe drove away from Ryder, and he spun around to see twelve massive male Piloswine standing ready to charge, behind him.

Xander went wide eyed. "Uh... Growlithe come back", and he flashed the pokeball at Growlithe who eagerly returned.

Ryder gave a little bit of a dark smile.

"I don't think they appreciated you calling them a pig", he said.

Xander turned and ran as the Piloswine charged, chasing him all the way back to the fence line, where they stood, watching him as he disappeared into the snow, before becoming bored, and dispersing, going back to grazing once again.

Ryder stood there for a second watching the Piloswine, before running back to the house.


	3. Chapter 3: Elizabeth

**Chapter 3:**

After two long, and stressful weeks, Ryder's father had returned home, from the hospital in Apollox. Although Ryder and his family wanted too, they simply did not have the money, or the time to visit him. There was a lot of nerve damage from the attack, and John had lost a lot of blood, but in the end, he made it, even though he was now restricted to a wheelchair for probably the rest of his life.

In the weeks that followed, everything went downhill. John was unable to work the ranch, so Ryder had to try his best to tend to the Piloswine, but it was all too much for him, so the ranch began to fall apart. Ryder's mother had to find a job in town, working part-time at the Poke-mart, just to get by.

Amanda's grades in school were slipping quickly, and Ryder was so tired that he barely had time to train his Swinub, or his new Eevee pup.

Eventually, John had decided that to get earn more money to pay the quickly piling bills, he would need to sell the other Eevees.

Ryder knew that if things didn't pick up soon, they would lose the ranch and have to find some other way to make money.

Ryder once again was laying in his bed, contemplating running away.

_One less mouth to feed_, he thought. _My family might be better off if I do leave._

He didn't sleep much that night, Ryder would just lay there, pretending not to hear his parents arguing in the kitchen. He just sat there trying to think of ways to make more money.

_Maybe I could start stealing, we've already sold half of the Piloswine on the ranch, and I'm sure those jerks at the Saunders' manor won't even notice if a few things went missing._

He smiled to himself, going over the plans in his head.

Ryder would break in, in the middle of the night, find the families safe, and avoiding the Growlithes or whatever other pokemon may be patrolling, get as much money and valuables as possible, before disappearing into the night, taking enough with him to get to Apollox, and leaving the rest for his parents.

The next morning he got dressed quickly, and as he walked out into the hall, he could hear an unfamiliar male voice, coming from the kitchen.

He walked to the stair, and crept down, until he could see who was in the kitchen.

The man was around the same height as Ryder, but thin, with short grey hair, a neatly trimmed greying beard, and wore a white lab coat, which confused Ryder.

The only time a scientist would come all the way up to Glacia, they would either be passing through to try and research the Frozen Spire, or to use the local Hotel as a base, as they set out to track and study the many packs of Glaceon.

"Thank you for your assistance mister Reigns", the scientist said, "you will be rewarded handsomely". He smiled.

John rolled himself forward and extended his hand to the scientist, who shook it happily. "No thank you professor", John said. "Anything to help the advance of your studies".

Ryder tilted his head._ A pokemon professor?_ He thought. _I wonder what he's studying here? but more importantly, why he needs my father's help?_

Ryder walked down the stair, and into the kitchen, where the professor turned and looked to him.

"Hello there," he said, "I'm professor Jeffery Diotte".

Ryder nodded, still wary of the professor. "May I ask what you're studying?" Ryder asked.

"I specialize in Dragon pokemon", he replied, "right now I travelling the north looking for powerful ice pokemon, and to study how they work together, and which ones can take on a powerful dragon pokemon".

Ryder was intrigued. Dragon type pokemon were often thought of as myth, much like the ancient pokemon that Ryder wanted to research. Maybe he could convince the professor to teach him a thing or two about the world.

"Your father was kind enough to allow us to study your Piloswine while we are in the area", the professor said. "We will be staying at the Spheal Inn while we're in town".

Ryder looked around. There was nobody else in the room besides the three of them. Amanda was at school and their mother was at work,

"We?" he asked.

"Yes, my daughter is here with me" the professor replied. "She's outside tending to my Dragonite".

Ryder's eyes went wide. A Dragonite! Ryder had see them in books and on T.V. but never thought he would get the chance to see one up close.

"One moment", the professor said.

He walked to the door, opened it and stepped outside.

A few seconds later, he reappeared, and behind him his daughter walked in.

"Gentlemen, this is my daughter Elizabeth".

He motioned to the girl behind him.

"Lizy, this is John Reigns, and..." he tilted his head and looked at Ryder, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name".

Ryder looked at Elizabeth and was dumbstruck.

She was beautiful. She was the same age as Ryder, short, about 5"3 had pale skin, long fire red hair that fell down her back, and covered her forehead, tapering off to cover her left eye that was covered by a white and pink tuque with point cat-like ears, and a pokeball in the centre. She had a perfect slender body, with stunning features, and beautiful hazel eyes, surrounded by a dark eyeliner and mascara. She wore tight black jeans, that had a pink pokebelt with a single dark pokeball clipped to it, and had black steel toed boots, a white winter jacket. On her back was a pink and silver backpack.

"Ryder," he stammered. "I'm Ryder".

She smiled, bowed her head and blushed. "Hi"

The room was quiet, and from the corner of his eye, he could see his father looking at him with a massive smirk on his face.

"Anyways!" The professor said, breaking the tension, "I heard in town that you guys are selling Eevee pups".

Elizabeth looked up and smiled even wider.

"I promised Lizy that I would get one for her birthday".

John nodded, "We have one left, she's out in the barn".

He looked at Ryder. "Maybe Ryder would show you the way?"

Ryder nodded, and walked to the door, grabbing his jacket, and walked out the door, Elizabeth quickly tailed behind, closing the door behind her, before catching up to walk next to Ryder.

The sun was bright, and the sky was clear. The snow was melting under them, as spring progressed, the short months where there was green on the ground, rather than a thick blanket of white.

"So, what's it like living all the way up here?" Elizabeth asked, trying to stir up a conversation.

Ryder shrugged. "It's pretty boring most of the time, we don't really get much action around here, and most people avoid Glacia because of the cold weather and harsh storms".

She nodded. "But the snow is so beautiful, we don't really get much where I'm from".

Elizabeth was from Shadowvale, a town in the mid-east, with a massive lake cutting off the town from the west.

Her family owned a large estate, backing onto the haunted Shadowvale woods, where her father did his research, and her mother owned the cemetery, and funeral home.

As it turns out, Elizabeth was a researcher of her own, since she was thirteen, she was designing and selling, unique pokeballs, that worked on specific types of pokemon, using nano technology, and microchips, to capture pokemon without fail. The only flaw was that each pokeball could only capture a certain type.

She was here with her father, researching ice pokemon habitats, to configure a new pokeball, especially tailored to ice type pokemon.

As they reached the barn, Ryder pulled open the door, and they walked in.

Flareon was laying next to a small, controlled fire that she had made, and the little Eevee was nowhere to be found.

Elizabeth looked around impatiently, undoubtedly excited to see her new pokemon.

Ryder smiled, and walked over to a pile of hay, that was mysteriously rustling for no apparent reason, and reached inside with both arms, and when he felt the warm, soft fur, pulled out the Eevee.

He turned and faced Elizabeth, who squeaked with delight before rushing towards him, stealing the Eevee from his arms.

"She's so cute!"

Ryder laughed softly, "And now she's all yours".

Suddenly Ryder felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck, and the air suddenly felt even colder than normal. He felt as if they weren't alone.

Ryder spun around, scanning the back of the barn, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Ryder shrugged and turned back towards the door, when the room went dark and smoky.

Ryder coughed, choked and blinded by the thick cloud, and he reached for the pokeball around his neck. In the darkness he could hear Flareon growling.

"What the hell!", Ryder managed to yell between the coughing.

He pulled the pokeball from its chain, and expanded it, ready to defend himself.

"Spook!" Elizabeth shouted. "Cut it out!".

_Spook? _Ryder thought.

in the blink of an eye, the smoke was gone, as quickly as it came.

Ryder was able to relax for just a moment, before a pair of floating eyes appeared directly at Ryder's eye level.

Ryder jumped back, as the rest of the body formed.

A Ghastly was floating, staring at Ryder with big bright eyes.

Ryder had never seen a ghost pokemon up close. When he was young, only a few weeks after his grandfather left, he thought he had seen a pokemon called Duskull floating through the trees, but his parents had dismissed it as Ryder's overactive imagination. In Glacian legend, a Duskull this far north considered a bad omen, and was thought to bring tragedy.

"Spook", Elizabeth said. "This is Ryder, were going to be staying in town for a little while, and he's going to show us around".

She smiled innocently.

Ryder smiled.

"Oh am I now?" he replied sarcastically.

Elizabeth nodded excitedly, then bowed her said, blushing

"If you don't mind..."

Ryder nodded. "It'd be my pleasure".

Ryder compacted his pokeball, and she attached it to the chain, before looking back at "Spook" the Ghastly.

"So where did this little guy come from?" Ryder asked.

Elizabeth explained that she was in the haunted forest, with her dads Dragonite, trying to test her first pokeball prototype, when she stumbled upon Spook being attacked by a Dusclops. She had Dragonite distract the Dusclops, while she captured Spook in her first attempt.

Ryder and Elizabeth began walking back towards the house, when she stopped and looked at him.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, "I forgot to ask you, what's with the pokeball chain?"

Ryder stopped along the fence line before sitting on the fence, and Elizabeth joined him, Eevee in her arms, while spook floated around, close to the tree line, trying to avoid direct sunlight.

Ryder explained the story about his grandfather, and him leaving Ryder the pokeball, then went along and explained the rare white Swinub that he carried with him. She listened intently, seemingly interested. It was hard to talk about it, because only a very few amount of people knew about his grandfather leaving, including the Saunders family, much to Ryder's disliking.

When Ryder finished, they stood up, and Elizabeth stared at the chain around Ryder's neck for a second, before asking him,

"Can I see him?"

Ryder paused for a moment, then nodded.

He reached up, plucked the pokeball from the clasp, and lowered his arm, and head, looking at it for a moment, before expanding it.

He tossed the pokeball into the air, and yelled, "Swinub! come on out!"

The ball opened, and the light shot out, and Swinub shot out, landing on the grass with a light thud.

Swinub snorted quietly, and sniffed the ground before wobbling to Elizabeth, and sniffing her boots.

"He likes you," Ryder said, as he watched how his Swinub interact with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled, "He's adorable!" "Spook come meet Swinub!"

Ryder turned and looked at Spook, who was hesitant to come out of the cover of the shade, but eventually began to float into the light and over towards Swinub. Ryder was a little wary of Spook, because he really had no idea, how ghost pokemon acted, or their reactions to meeting new pokemon or different types.

Apparently Elizabeth noticed Ryder's tension. "It's ok, he's really friendly to other pokemon, he was just playing around in the barn".

Ryder nodded and relaxed a little, but still kept a close eye, as Spook reached Swinub, and hovered a little lower.

They stared at each other for a second, before Spook ginned widely, and flipped himself upside down, being playful with Swinub.

Swinub snorted happily, and jumped up, trying to playfully tackle Spook, but was caught off guard when he passed right through him, and came crashing to the ground.

Elizabeth and Ryder both laughed, and watched the pokemon play for over an hour, before they even showed the slightest signs of being tired.

As the pokemon began to tire, suddenly, Spook froze, hissed and made a beeline for the trees, disappearing into the shadows, and Swinub began to furiously squeal, trying to hide behind Ryder's legs.

"What the..." Ryder said, puzzled.

"I'm not sure, I've never seen Spook act like this before," Elizabeth replied.

Like a bolt of lightning, a massive shadow passed over them, darkening the sky. They heard an ear piercing shriek as it flew past towards the Frozen Spire, and before Ryder could even look, the pokemon was only a dark speck against the blue sky background.

"What was that?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

"I have no idea", Ryder replied.

Ryder quickly returned Swinub to his pokeball, and Elizabeth called to Spook, who silently floated back towards them. Both pokemon had seemed to have calmed down.

As Ryder watched Spook, he thought he saw three quick flashed of red, orange and white shooting through the forest.

They turned to head back to the house, and saw John and the professor already outside, looking towards the Spire, that loomed above the trees.

"Did you see it?" the professor shouted to them.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"No, but it was loud, like a bird pokemon, and it terrified little Spook", she said looking at Spook, who was hovering closely behind her.

"Hmmmm, I wonder," the professor said, then turned and began to walk towards the road. "Come on Lizy we have to go! I need to call Airian!"

Elizabeth looked disappointed, but nodded, and turned to face Ryder.

"I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah", Ryder replied. "Absolutely".

She smiled. "Alright, I'll see you then!" She jogged after her father, with Spook quickly following, who was already at the road, walking towards town.

Ryder turned and looked at his father, who had a big smirk on his face.

"So?" John asked.

"So what?" Ryder replied.

"What do you think?"

"The professor is a little strange, but he seems trustworthy enough".

John shook his head.

"No," he said. "I mean about the girl".

"She's cute, and smart", Ryder replied, "But that's none of your business old man". Ryder walked past him, patting him on the shoulder, before entering the house.

He walked up to his room, stopping for a minute to talk to Amanda. Who was sitting on her bed, playing with her Eevee.

"Who was the girl you were outside with?" She asked. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Ryder smiled. "No Mandy, she's the professor's daughter, just a friend".

"Oh", Amanda said. "She's really pretty. And she has a really cool pokemon!"

Ryder smiled, and walked out, heading to his room, where his own little Eevee was snuggled up in a tight little fur ball on the bed.

He had gotten a lot bigger, already as long as Ryder's forearm.

Ryder laid in his bed, and watched the sun go down, thinking about Elizabeth and her different personality. It was strange, because he had never felt a connection like that with anyone, besides his family, and his pokemon. He also thought about the strange pokemon shadow they saw, and how it affected Swinub and Spook. He had never see Swinub that afraid of a pokemon that was just passing by.

When it got dark outside, he shut off his alarm, wanting to sleep in, let the exhaustion wash over him, and he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: To The Forest!

**Chapter Four:**

Ryder awoke, feeling refreshed, and ready for the day, for the first time in the first six weeks, mainly because it was the first Saturday that he would be able to relax.

It was already about noon, as Ryder got out of bed, not to wake his little Eevee, who was still asleep at the foot of his bed, curled up in a little ball, grabbed his clothes, and went to shower.

When he was finished, he put on a pair of shorts, but left his shirt on the counter.

_It's a lazy day_, Ryder thought. _I just want to relax._

He walked downstairs, hair still wet, and into the kitchen.

"Hey mom," he said. "What's for breakfast?"

Ryder looked up, and saw Elizabeth and the professor, sitting with his parents at the kitchen table.

He stopped.

Elizabeth was staring at Ryder, blushing, but the professor didn't seem fazed.

"Well good morning", the professor said.

"Morning professor," Ryder replied. "Morning Elizabeth".

Elizabeth shook her head and looked back up at Ryder's face, clearing her throat, "Uhm, good morning".

Ryder flashed a quick smile, and John sniggered.

"that's quite an interesting tattoo", The professor said, looking at the Seviper on Ryder's arm.

Ryder nodded, "thanks, I used to be really into reptilian pokemon", he said. "I know a lot about them".

"I can imagine that you don't see many reptilian pokemon around here".

Ryder shook his head.

Elizabeth stood up.

"Hey Ryder, let's go train for a little bit!"

Ryder smiled.

"Alright let me just finish getting dressed and I'll be right outside".

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, and took another quick glance at Ryder's torso before turning, grabbing her jacket, and walking out the back door.

Ryder ran back up the stairs, grabbed a black shirt, as Eevee perked up his ears, and jumped off the bed, and Ryder took off again towards the door, Eevee quickly in toe.

As he walked back through the kitchen, grabbed his jacket and was almost out the door, when his father stopped him.

"Hey, I got you something in town this morning".

Ryder turned around, and saw John, holding a black pokeball, with red stripes, that had gold outline. A luxury ball.

"Dad..." Ryder sighed. "These are expensive".

John nodded.

"I'm not going to let your Eevee just walk around freely, he needs somewhere safe, if you travel."

He handed the pokeball to Ryder, who quickly turned, and threw it at Eevee.

It bounced off Eevee, before pulling him into the ball.

It wiggled for a few seconds, while the button shone red, before dinging and coming to rest.

Ryder picked up the ball, and put it in his pocket.

"Thanks dad".

John nodded again, and Ryder walked out the door, as John and the professor resumed talking. Ryder had a slight feeling that the topic of their conversation was about him.

He dismissed the thought, and went out into the pens, where Elizabeth, her Eevee and Spook were waiting for him.

"So what's the plan?" Elizabeth asked him.

Ryder thought for a moment.

"Well we could head out into the forest for a little while, and look for some Sneasels if you'd like"

Elizabeth smiled. "Sounds like a plan".

Ryder unclasped his pokeball from its chain, and pulled the other one out of his pocket. He expanded them, and threw them up in the air.

"Come on out guys!" He shouted.

After the flash of light, Swinub and Eevee were out and sniffing around in the grass, which had a light soft layer of snow on top.

They walked into the tree line, and soon the house disappeared behind the massive trees, and the sun disappeared above the canopy.

They walked in silence for a while, pausing for quick moments, while Ryder examined pokemon footprints, trying to track a Sneasel.

He noticed a large amount of Glaceon prints, which worried Ryder, because they normally wouldn't be this close to the ranch. It was almost as if something was pushing them out of their territory.

_I wonder if it has something to do with the pokemon we saw yesterday,_ Ryder thought.

"So how do we know when were on the trail of a Sneasel?" Elizabeth asked, as they walked along.

Ryder looked around, then walked to a nearby tree, that had deep gouges taken out of it.

"You see these scratches here?" Ryder asked.

She nodded.

"These are from the Sneasels climbing up the trees".

"Why do they climb"?

"They steal the eggs from the Braviary's that nest high in the trees".

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose.

"Ewe," she said.

Ryder shrugged.

"I don't eat eggs personally, but I guess you can't knock it until you try it Elizabeth".

Elizabeth turned and looked at Ryder.

"Lizy", she said. "My friends call me Lizy".

Ryder smiled at her, and they continued walking.

It wasn't long before Ryder could see a male and female Sneasel, in a clearing, cracking and eating a large Braviary egg.

Ryder looked at Lizy.

"Alright you and your pokemon take the female, and we'll take the male".

She nodded silently, and they began to creep towards them.

"Swinub!" Ryder shouted. "Use Mist to blind them!"

Swinub snorted, and a thick mist descended from the clouds, and into the clearing, blinding the Sneasels.

Ryder smiled, and him and his pokemon walked calmly into the mist, disappearing almost instantly, as the Sneasels snarled in the fog furiously.

Lizy stayed at the edge, hesitant.

"Come on in Lizy!" Ryder yelled.

Lizy looked at Spook, who had a smile on his face, ready to explore the deep fog, and she stepped in.

Elizabeth couldn't see a single thing in the fog, not even her outstretched hand, as she tried to feel her away around.

Spook stayed beside her, also blinded, and she couldn't even see her Eevee, or the ground for that matter.

The snarls of the Sneasels were loud, and seemed very close, she even thought she heard their running feet right next to them.

"Ryder?" She called out.

No response.

"Anyone?"

Still nothing.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise, and suddenly saw a dark figure out of the corner of her right eye, and she spun to face it, but it had already vanished.

"Ryder!" She yelled. "Stop! Your scaring me!"

That's when Lizy noticed the sounds of the Sneasels had stopped, and an eerie silence had fallen over the clearing.

She spun around, and directly in front of her was the Sneasel.

It was the male, and was staring directly at her, claws at its sides.

She took a step back, and it matched her, stepping forwards.

She opened her mouth to scream, but like a bolt of lightning, it charged, letting out a high pitched screech.

The next thing she knew, Lizy was on the ground, Ryder covering her, and the Sneasel had been taken down by Swinub.

"Careful sunshine," Ryder said, "Have to watch your back out here".

He smiled and jumped back up, just in time for the Sneasel to get to its feet, ready to battle.

Lizy got to her feet flustered.

"Spook!" She yelled, "Come and battle"!

Spook appeared from the fog, revved up, and ready to battle, right as the second Sneasel sped into the clearing, to help its friend.

Ryder and Lizy turned and faced the Sneasels, Swinub standing next to Ryder, and Spook floating ominously next to Lizy.

There was a brief moment as the two teams just stared at each other, trying to size each other up, or find a weakness, before the Sneasels jumped towards them, claws flashing.

"Swinub! Use Mudbomb!" Ryder yelled, and Swinub, dug into the ground for a brief moment, before launching a ball of mud at the lead Sneasel, knocking it off balance and sending it crashing to the ground.

"Spook! Nightshade!"

The air around the second Sneasel went dark, and it started to flail violently around, before breaking through again.

The battle went on for a long time, the Sneasels slashing at Spook and Swinub, while the dodged and countered them.

Eventually, the pokemon began to grow tired, and the Sneasels seemed to have lost their energy to battle before melting back into the mist, and disappearing into the forest.

Ryder returned his Swinub to its pokeball, and Spook hung close to the ground, tired from the battle, as the mist had finally begun to fade away.

"Well that was a fun one". Ryder said, as he began to walk back towards the house.

"What the heck Ryder!" Lizy shouted, "That mist could have gotten me killed!"

Ryder shrugged, "I'm sorry, I figured it would be a good way to sneak up on them, but granted it did not go as well as I had hoped".

"Obviously".

That's when Ryder noticed that there were still two pokemon missing. The Eevees were nowhere to be found.

"Where are the Eevees?" He asked.

Elizabeth looked around, worried, noticing that they were gone as well.

"Eevee?" She yelled.

They searched around the clearing for a while, and Ryder feared that they could be in trouble.

As if on cue, the pair came running out of the forest, playing and happy as could be, seemingly oblivious to the battle that had just gone on.

"Don't you guys go running off on us again" Lizy said sternly, before turning and walking towards the house.

Ryder watched her for a second, before returning his Eevee back to its pokeball and following behind her.

As they walked in silence, Ryder thought of all the things that he could have done differently to make the battle go smoother, and to not make Lizy angry. He always did this sort of thing after a battle, trying to tweak his strategies and make him a better trainer.

When they reached the house, the professor was standing in the backyard, on his pokegear, talking to someone on the phone.

As they approached, he hung up, and walked towards them.

"That was professor Ariel, from the Aviation department at the University of Apollox," he said. "He thinks that the bird we saw might have been one of the three legendary birds".

Ryder's eyes went wide.

The three legendary birds, Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno, were pokemon myths that went back as far as humanity had worked with pokemon.

But they were all supposed to be in the Kanto regions, guarding their respective islands, the fact that one would appear here, was strange and slightly unnerving.

"Did he say why a legendary bird one come all the way to Cataria?" Ryder asked.

The professor shook his head.

"Anyways," the professor said. "How was the day?"

Apparently it was already time for dinner.

Lizy shrugged. "We just went for a walk".

Ryder looked at her, then just nodded.

"Alright, well we had better get back to the hotel then Lizy, we have a lot of packing to do".

Ryder tilted his head, "You guys are leaving already?"

"No, were going out for a few days to go and check out the Glaceons in the wild".

"Oh alright," Ryder responded, he didn't want Lizy to leave yet, he had never had quite a connection with someone as he had with her.

Lizy walked up to Ryder and have him a long warm hug. Ryder's heart skipped a beat. He had never felt this way about anyone ever, and had no idea why.

"I had fun today", she said letting go of him.

He smiled. "Me too".

With that she turned and walked towards the road with her father.

Ryder watched her until she was out of sight, and then walked to the house, and up to his room, pulling his mobile pokemon centre from underneath his bed.

It was a small box with only enough room to fit six pokeballs at once. It was red with a white trim, and a start/stop button on the side.

Ryder plugged in his pokeballs and slid it back under the bed, before heading back downstairs to eat with his family.

His parents and Amanda were already sitting at the table, ready to eat.

There was a ham, with mashed potatoes, with milk to drink.

Ryder sat in "his" spot, at the end of the table across from his father, and they began to eat.

"So the professor thinks that you and Elizabeth seem to have a real connection", John said, watching Ryder.

Ryder smiled.

"She's awesome, and she can hold her own in a pokemon battle too".

Ryder went on to explain the day, teaching her to track, and to battle wild Sneasels. Which reminded him about the Glaceon tracks.

"Hey dad, have you seen a lot of Glaceon around the ranch lately?" He asked.

John shrugged.

"I can hear the howling at night sometimes, and the Piloswine seem to be on edge a lot more lately, but I haven't seen any myself lately".

"I saw one!" Amanda chimed in.

"Oh is that right?" John said smiling. "Where was that?"

Amanda smiled.

"I saw one on my way to school yesterday!" She said excitedly, "It was standing at the trees by the road, just watching me!"

Ryder laughed. Amanda had never seen a Glaceon up close before, only far away in the tree line by the ranch, and from her window.

"What did it look like?"

"It was like a big dog, black and white, with a really cool looking horn!"

Ryder stopped smiling and became confused.

_Glaceon aren't usually that colour,_ he thought. _And they defiantly do not have a horn._

He looked at his father, who was deep in thought, and frozen like a statue, he was also very pale.

"Dad?" Ryder asked.

John quickly rolled back in his wheelchair, and heading towards the door, not even grabbing his coat.

"I have to run into town for a few hours, I'll be late". He said, and was gone.

Ryder looked at his mother, who was also very pale, and then she got up, and began to clean up the table. Amanda still had a big smile on her face and continued to eat.

_There's something not right here..._ He thought. _My parents know something about this pokemon._

He cleaned up his plate before heading upstairs to check his ice pokemon, fire pokemon and dragon pokemon books, but after hours of looking, he turned up nothing, and eventually decided to go to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5: The Mystery Pokemon

**Chapter Five:**

Ryder awoke with an uneasy feeling, the sun was bright in the window, and it would normally be a beautiful day, except for the strange feeling.

All night, he couldn't stop thinking about the weird pokemon that his sister had seen, and for some reason he couldn't shake it off.

It could be anything normal, that just wasn't normally from around Glacia, but a gut feeling Ryder had said differently.

He sauntered out of bed, and into the shower, where the hot water woke him up, and the knot in his stomach loosened a bit.

Ryder went back to his room, got dressed quickly, before pulling the mobile pokemon centre from under the bed, unhooking the pokeballs, clasping Swinub to his chain, and tucking Eevee into his pants pocket, before walking out.

As he walked downstairs, his father was out in the pens, and his mom was in the kitchen, cleaning as usual. She didn't look like she had a very good sleep either.

"Mom is everything alright?" He asked.

She just nodded, not even looking at him, and continued to clean furiously.

Ryder didn't believe her, but didn't want to push the subject further. Maybe tomorrow he would go into town, and try and see what he could find out.

He grabbed his jacket, throwing it on quickly, and heading outside.

As he walked towards the trees to go and train, he saw his father in the pens, feeding the Piloswine, while Flareon kept a very close eye on him.

He shook his head. _I don't understand why they're keeping things from me. _

He ignored them while he launched his pokeballs into the air, ready to train.

This went by for the four days while Lizy was gone.

Ryder would wake up, get ready and head out to the trees to train his pokemon, while his parents were always keeping themselves busy, and Amanda was at school.

He had also gotten his Swinub to learn Blizzard, much to his amazement, it didn't take as long to train Swinub with such a powerful move as he had thought. Swinub was also trying something, that Ryder had no idea what it was.

Swinub would rear up on his hind legs, let out a massive snort, like a battle cry, then slam back down with bone breaking force. Ryder once almost thought he felt the ground shake underneath him.

The day before Lizy was supposed to be back, Ryder finally got fed up with his parents hiding things from him, and decided he wanted to do some research on his own.

He woke up early, around 5:00 am, and snuck out before his parents were even awake, taking his pokeballs with him, and heading towards the town.

The air was warm, almost like summer was rolling in early, but there was no wind today, as he walked along the cracked paved road.

It was cloudy, and bleak though, as if Glacia was about to be hit by a massive storm.

Ryder walked in silence, debating which stores he would go too.

There was a modernized library that he could go too, but it was always crowded, and then there was an old antique book store. It was quiet and dusty, and all of the rare pokemon books from all over the world, could be found there.

Within half an hour, Ryder could see main street appearing before him as the sun rose.

The main street looked old, as if it was something from an old western film, and was lined with all kinds of stores.

They had everything from clothing, to food, to pokedoll and pokeball specialty stores. There were mining supply stores, a big grocery store, and of course, the two book stores, right across from each other.

The modern bookstore, was called Hoppip books, and already had people inside, reading and sipping coffee at the many tables. The other store, Abaline's Unique Books and Artifacts however, looked empty, so Ryder chose to go into that one.

It was dark inside, only lit by candles and was in fact empty. Ryder couldn't even see Abaline, the owner, through the shelves and piles of books.

It smelled like old paper, and mold as Ryder began to scan the shelves. The first book that caught his eye, was Extinct and Rare Pokemon, an encyclopedia that listed all of the pokemon from myth, extinct pokemon, and their fossils.

He had wanted the book for a while, but Aldine never had any in stock, of course until now, so he instantly grabbed it off the shelf.

Ryder continued to scan until he found an old and worn out book, called Pokemon of Myth.

He grabbed that one as well, and weaved his way through the shelves, until he found the old wooden desk, with Aldine sitting behind it, his nose in a book.

He was in his late seventies, with long white hair, and a long white beard, he also had a strange accent that Ryder could never pinpoint.

"Well good morning young Ryder," he said, without even looking up.

"Good morning Aldine", Ryder replied.

"How is your father's leg? I heard it was pretty bad".

They continued to talk for about ten minutes, until Aldine finally took the books, and Ryder took money out of his back pocket, and paid him, before walking out, and across the street, into the library.

He took a seat at the round glass table, and instantly began to read Pokemon of Myth.

He sat there for over six hours, reading the massively thick book, until finally something caught his eye.

It was a black and white, long, slender, with a black curled horn that protruded from the top of its head.

It was called Absol.

_So this is what all of the fuss is about?_ Ryder thought, shaking its head. _How bad could it be?_

That was when he read the details and description.

It was known as the Disaster Pokemon, and the description read:

_ This pokemon lives deep in the mountains in solitude, and only appears before a massive disaster strikes, such as a tsunami or earthquake, and always ends in tragedy. When the disaster ends, or Absol is threatened, it quickly returns to the mountains._

Ryder dropped the book, and stood up.

That's when the ground began to shake violently, throwing Ryder and everyone in the building to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6: Collapse

****Im starting to get more and more views guys :) thought you all deserved another chapter! Dont be shy to PM me if your interested in being a character in the book!

**Chapter Six:**

Ryder could hear the people in the library screaming, as he struggled to his feet and looked around.

The entire building was shaking, and bookcases were falling, barely missing the frantic patrons as they bolted for the door.

Ryder jumped into action, leaving his books, which were already lost, and bolted towards the entrance.

He made it to the door, as people tried to push past, and onto the street.

Every building on the street was shaking, and the glass from the windows, were shattering as people scattered trying to get to cover.

Ryder had never seen an earthquake in motion, but he thought for sure that this would be a bad one, and that there's no way that it could end without someone getting hurt or even worse.

He ran down the street, trying to get back away from the town, where buildings could collapse or he could be crushed or even trampled by the mass stampeding people.

He was watching his footing, looking down at the small cracks opening up underneath the streets, pulling the asphalt apart.

Ryder didn't look up until he reached the shaking trees, then he looked up in the direction of his house, and standing only ten feet in front of him was the Absol, still at stone, and staring directly at him, its blood red eyes felt like it was tearing into Ryder's soul.

Ryder froze, not sure what was about to happen, and suddenly the world stopped shaking, and there was a moment of calm and quiet.

The Absol stared at him for a moment, then looked down at the ground, as if it was waiting, before tensing itself again, crouching low and looking back at Ryder.

Ryder braced himself for the Absol to attack.

It shrieked loudly, an ear splitting, high-pitched shriek, before leaping at Ryder, slamming its paws into his chest, and knocking him back, off the road and onto the grass.

It stood over top of Ryder for a moment before leaping off of him, like a bolt of lightning, and into the trees, back towards the Frozen Spire.

Ryder watched it for a moment, before feeling the ground begin to shake again, and as he turned towards the road, he heard the indescribable sound of the ground splitting, before huge fissure opened up, right where Ryder was standing, and it travelled down the middle of the road, straight through the town, and towards the salt mine.

A second later, Ryder heard a loud explosion, and saw smoke rising from the mine.

The shaking stopped again, and an almost peaceful quiet fell across the trees. The earthquake was over.

"Jesus..." Ryder said out loud, and he took off sprinting towards the mine. It sounded like the mines that his uncle Max worked at.

As he sprinted through the town, parallel to the giant crack in the ground, he barely noticed how much destruction there was around him, as he dodged people crying in the street, or downed telephone poles.

He reached the gates to the mine, on the far side of the strip.

The fence was thick and chain link, with barbed wire topping it to stop people from getting in and potentially getting hurt. The gate itself was chain link as well, and locked, dozens of people had already flocked to the gates to see what had happened.

Ryder shoved his way through the crowd, pushing past people, until he reached the front of the crowd.

He could see the entrance to the mine itself, as miners ran through escaping the mine, and the thick cloud of smoke billowing from the darkness.

Something had happened from the earthquake, and something must have blown up, possibly collapsing the mine shafts.

Ryder watched the miners running out, looking at the faces, trying to spot his uncle, as the mine rescue teams, dressed in all yellow began to flood in.

Suddenly Ryder heard a girl calling his name, and turned to see Lizy and the professor making their way through the crowd.

"Ryder!" She yelled.

Ryder was numb, probably in shock, but he managed to raise his hand, to show them where he is.

Ryder reached out and she grabbed his hand, pulling herself through the crowd, right to him, with the professor close behind. "What happened?" she asked, yelling over the crowd, as it continued to grow.

Ryder shook his head. "Some kind of earthquake," he replied. "I think a mine shaft collapsed".

Lizy gasped and put her hand over her mouth, and the professor stepped forward.

"I thought that earthquakes never happened all the way up here", he said.

"They don't, my sister saw an Absol, a couple days ago, " Ryder replied.

The professor's eyes went wide. "Are you sure?"

Ryder nodded, "I saw it too, it knocked me out of the way of the massive fissure that took out main street".

That's when Ryder noticed the pain over his heart.

He pulled his jacket and t shirt down, revealing the bare skin, and three deep gashes that ran diagonally across his left peck, blood was slowly streaming from the wound.

Ryder touched it with one finger and flinched, it hurt a lot.

"Are you alright?" Lizy asked, eyes wide.

"I'll be fine". He replied sternly. The cuts were the least of his worries right now.

He turned away from them, and watched as more and more miners continued to pour from the mines, but none of them were Max.

Soon the Saunders arrived in their black carriage, parting the crowds as it rolled through, and a guard opened the gate letting them through before quickly locking it back up.

Ryder watched as Brandon and Xander dismounted, and began to try and take control of the situation, talking with the rescue teams, and reassuring the miners.

Ryder stood there for hours, watching the stream of miners slowing, with less and less miners coming up from the depths.

Ryder began to worry more and more, but he also started to feel light headed, and nauseous, and his jacket became damp with blood from the wound. It was hurting more and more, and the pain was getting unbearable.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake again, and the crowd began to panic, screaming and shoving trying to get away.

Ryder lost his footing, and struggled, grabbing onto Lizy's shoulder, and went very pale.

As he steadied himself, Ryder looked back to the entrance, and saw the mine rescue teams, sprinting from the entrance, their yellow suits bright against the dark rock.

As soon as the last rescuer cleared the opening, the entrance came crashing down, a dark flood of smoke and dust blanketing the frantic crowd, blinding Ryder.

Ryder could hear Lizy screaming, and the professor calling for her and Ryder, before being knocked to the ground by someone random in the crowd.

He rolled around for a second, the searing in his chest reaching a boiling, before the edge of his vision blurred, and his senses dulled, and the last night he remembered was Lizy screaming his name, before finally blacking out.


	7. Chapter 7: the Mark Of The Absol

Hey guys, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone whos been reading and following me, feel free to write reviews and comment, or even request to add your own character into the book :) Im sorry i dont get too much time to write, but thats what happens when you work 60 hours a week... But anyways heres chapter seven !

**Chapter Seven:**

Ryder's head was pounding as he began to reach consciousness.

His vision was foggy, but he could tell that he was back at his house, and had no shirt on, but had clean jeans as he laid in his bed.

He laid there frozen, trying to clear his head, as his vision began to clear.

The last thing he remembered was the entrance to the mine coming down, and the dark cloud enveloping the crowd around him

_The mine!_ He thought, and sat upright.

His chest was burning, and he had a wave of light headedness fall over him, and the wind was knocked out of him.

He looked down, at his chest, and saw gauze covering the Absol wound, but at least it was clean.

Ryder noticed that his Swinub wasn't around his neck as normal, and began to stress out, hoping that he hadn't lost it in the fray.

He swung his feet over the side of the bed, and took a deep breath, before struggling to his feet, and stumbling towards the door.

He opened it slowly and walked into the hall, and into the washroom.

He walked to the mirror and saw himself and was taken aback.

Ryder had dark circles under his eyes, and was extremely pale, and he looked like he had even lost some weight. In all honesty, he thought he looked terrible.

He shook his head before walking back out and downstairs.

The house was quiet, and empty, which was kind of expected. Everyone was probably out doing what they could at the mines, or trying to find out what had actually happened.

Through the window, Ryder could actually see daylight, which meant he couldn't have been out for too long.

He walked to the door, opening it, and stepping outside, into the cool spring air.

It was bright, and the sky had cleared, as Ryder looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the light.

He looked out to the pens, where he saw Amanda and Lizy, playing with Amanda's Eevee, while Spook floated around lazily. They seemed to be oblivious and almost carefree considering the circumstances.

Ryder stood there, kind of enjoying the cool air for a bit, watching the two of them laughing and playing in the pens, when Amanda looked towards the house, finally noticing him.

"Ryder!" she squealed, and jumped up running towards him.

Lizy looked towards him and smiled widely, before jumping up and following Amanda.

They reached him, and Ryder smiled, as Amanda walked around him, while the pokemon joined him, Spook looking him over and Eevee smelling his legs.

She was wearing skinny jeans, with a pair of steel toed boots, with pink laces, a black leather corset, with pink lace, a pink pokebelt, and wore a pink and silver backpack on her back, along with her Skitty eared tuque. She looked stunning

Lizy looked at Ryder, then at the bandages on his chest.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

Ryder flashed her a smile. "It hurts, but I'll be alright".

Lizy's brow furrowed.

"That's what you said last time, before you passed out and we had to have a Chansey come and take care of you".

Ryder shrugged. "Where is everyone"?

"Your parents and my dad are at the mines, trying to help clear some of the rubble, the cave ins were really bad".

"Was anyone hurt?"

She looked down. "Mostly cuts and bruises, nothing serious, but there are still a dozen miners missing down there".

Ryder felt a chill go up his spine.

"Your dad told us about your uncle Max..." She said softly. "I'm so sorry but he's still missing".

Ryder felt light headed again.

Him and uncle Max were really close, he would always come over and play with Ryder when he was a kid, and was the one that taught Ryder how to battle with his Swinub.

Before Max was a miner, he used to be an adventurer, travelling all around the region collecting pokemon, before finally coming home to Glacia, and settling down.

Ryder loved hearing his stories about the marshes and rainforests that he visited, and was also the one who got Ryder into reptilian pokemon to begin with.

"I should be down there helping them". Ryder said, and began to walk back inside to get his things.

Lizy shook her head, and put a hand on Ryder's shoulder. "You can't, you're in no condition to travel".

Ryder began to frantically look for his pokemon, ignoring her.

"Ryder please..."

His head began to feel really fuzzy again, and he had to steady himself on the kitchen table.

"It's been three days Ryder", Lizy said. "You need to eat something".

_Three days! _ He thought. _I've been out for three days!_

Ryder shook his head, trying to clear the fuzziness.

"Let me and Lizy cook you up something!" Amanda piped up, "Then you can go help mommy and daddy getting uncle Max out of the mines", she smiled.

Ryder nodded. "Alright Mandy, I'll let you ladies make me some food, but I need to go and lay down".

He looked al Lizy, who nodded at him, before turning and heading to the fridge, looking for food.

Ryder slowly made his way back upstairs, and back to bed, where he laid for what seemed like a very long time.

Soon Lizy walked up with a tray of fresh fruit, a sandwich and a glass of milk. She placed the tray on Ryder's legs as he sat up, and she sat down at the end of the bed.

Ryder quickly realized exactly how hungry he was, and started to chow down in a mad frenzy.

"So, what's going on with the mine?" Ryder asked, between massive bites of the sandwich.

"The town is doing what they can, but it seems that were going to need more help, so Mr Saunders called in a few favours, and there are miners from all over the region coming to dig out the survivors." She replied. "They should be here within the next couple of days".

Ryder nodded, and he ate in silence, while Lizy sat and watched him.

After he finished, he asked Lizy to hand him a shirt, before throwing it on and using her to steady himself as he stood up again.

The light headedness was quickly disappearing, and he was able to move around without getting dizzy.

"Have you seen my pokeballs?" He asked her, as he searched his room.

"I have them in my bag, your dad asked me to hold onto them".

She pulled her bag off of her back, and began to rummage through , until she pulled out first his pokeball, on his chain, holding Swinub, and then Eevee in his Luxury ball.

Ryder reached out and she dropped them into his hand, and Ryder quickly put the chain around his neck and tucked Eevee into his pocket.

"Oh, me and my dad also got you something... I hope you like it". Lizy said.

She reached back into the bag, and pulled out a black Pokebelt, holding in her hands, before holding her hand out to him.

Ryder smiled, and took the belt, looking it over. "It's awesome," he said smiling. "I've never had a pokebelt before".

Lizy blushed slightly, and smiled. "I'm glad you like it".

He put his hand over hers on the bed, and he stared into her eyes, losing himself in the deep hazel.

He began to lean towards her and closing his eyes, as she did the same.

Suddenly from outside there was a loud and dull _thump!_ That made them both jump, and Ryder stood up.

"There back!" Lizy yelled and ran out the door.

Ryder quickly looped his pokebelt into his jeans and clipped on Eevee into one of the clips on his hip, before taking off downstairs, and outside.

When he reached the yard, he saw the professor and Ryder's parents dismounting off of the professor's Dragonite, that stood well over their heads.

They looked at Ryder and walked over, as the professor returned Dragonite to its pokeball.

"Welcome back to the land of the living!" John exclaimed.

"How are you feeling Ryder?" The professor asked.

Ryder's mom smiled and walked back inside. They all looked filthy and were covered in dirt.

Ryder smiled, and shook the professor's hand, then clapped his hand on his father's shoulder.

"I'm still kicking," he said.

"Absols attacking a human, is extremely rare", the professor said. "In Catarian mythology, they say that someone with the scar of an Absol is considered a great warrior, and a hero in the making".

Ryder laughed.

"It may be funny to you, but there are still some tribes in the rainforests to the west would still probably follow that tradition".

"Well that's interesting," Ryder said. "How are things at the mine?"

John shrugged, "your mom is still pretty bent out of shape, with Max missing, and progress is slow. I think Brandon Saunders is losing faith." He said.

Ryder bowed his head.

"But there are groups of volunteers and miners coming to help, they should arrive sometime tomorrow, or even tonight".

"Well that good!" Lizy exclaimed.

"Well id best be going," the professor said.

Lizy frowned.

the professor turned and looked at her, "However, the Reigns have been kind enough to invite you over for dinner, and I'm sure Ryder would defiantly feel up to walking you home after".

Ryder and Lizy both smiled.

"Absolutely", Ryder said.

With that the professor turned and walked back towards the road, as everyone else went back inside.

Dinner was solemn, with no one really wanting to talk about anything that had happened in the last three days.

Eventually Ryder got fed up with the awkward silence and turned to Lizy, who was sitting beside him.

"So how did the research on Glaceons go?" he asked.

She smiled. "They were so cool! We watched them run around, and my dad was taking notes on every little thing they did. I got a lot of research done on a new pokeball too, specifically designed for ice types".

Ryder smiled, "What are you going to call this one?"

"A Glacier ball".

"Sounds awesome!" Amanda chimed in.

Ryder agreed.

for the rest of dinner, Ryder kept up a conversation with Lizy about her designs and what she wanted to do with them.

After dinner, Ryder and Lizy walked out to the barn, and sat there for what hours about the town, and surrounding areas, and about the Frozen Spire, and the legends about it.

Eventually they were both laying down, the sky had turned dark, and the sun ways down. Lizy had her head on the right side of his chest, to avoid his injury, and she was asleep.

Ryder was still awake, just happy to be where he was, and with her.

He was so lost in thought, that at first he couldn't hear the pounding of dozens of massive pokemon pounding on the roads.

When he did hear it though, it sent a chill up his spine, reminding him of the sounds of the earthquake, but as he lay there tense, he could hear voices and almost a rhythm of feet pounding in the dark.

Ryder shook Lizy, who mumbled something in her sleep before sitting up, she had a warm smile on her face, "what is it?"

"There's something big coming down the road," Ryder said.

Lizy listened for a second, before jumping up, Ryder already on his feet, and they ran out into the dark, and up to the road.

The road was crowded. Hundreds of people and their pokemon were walking towards the mines.

Ryder could see that it was mostly rock and fighting pokemon, but some water, and there were even some voltorb and electrodes, that would probably be used for either blasting or powering machinery were in the crowd.

Ryder had to step back as two Ryhorn, pulling a massive covered wagon snorted at him and Lizy, as they continued to move along.

Ryder stared as the procession moved on, there were people and pokemon as far as he could see, taking up both sides of the road.

Lizy turned and looked at Ryder. "Look at all of those people".

Ryder nodded as he watched.

"I'm kind of afraid I'll get trampled on my way home if I'm not careful".

Ryder looked at her.

"Yeah," he said. "It would honestly be safer if you stayed with us tonight, I'll take you home in the morning".

Lizy smiled.

After a few minutes of watching, Ryder led Lizy inside, where they walked up to his room.

"You can take my bed," Ryder said. "I'll sleep downstairs".

Lizy shook her head.

"You can stay up here with me if you want..."

Ryder smiled, and they climbed into the bed, got under the blankets, just laid there.

Eventually Ryder wrapped an arm around Lizy, holding her close, and kissed the back of her head once, before they both fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8: How Dare You!

**Chapter Eight:**

The morning came too quickly for Ryder, as the sun rose, shining light into the bedroom window, waking him up.

He turned to look at Lizy, but felt a knot in his stomach when he saw that the bed was empty, and she was nowhere to be seen.

He got up, and stretched, and suddenly heard shouting from outside.

The professor, and he sounded angry.

Ryder bolted downstairs, and out the door, into the warming air.

The sky was cloudy, but the heat from the sun still shone through and onto Ryder's face.

The professor was yelling at Lizy, who was staring at the ground, as his massive Dragonite stood behind him, staring her down.

"What were you thinking not coming home last night?!" He shouted. "you have no idea how worried I was"!

"I'm...I'm sorry dad..." Lizy stammered.

"We're going back to Shadowvale right now"!

Ryder decided that was the time to step in.

"Professor," he interrupted. "This was my fault, I invited Lizy to stay".

Up until now the professor hadn't even noticed that Ryder was there, him and Dragonite both turned to face him, and Ryder saw the professor's face go bright red.

"You!" He yelled, pointing at Ryder. "This is your fault! I spent all night looking for my daughter, thinking the worst with those massive pokemon moving through town, and the whole time you too were sleeping together! Your kind disgusts me!"

Ryder felt a twitch of rage building up inside of him, and apparently so did Swinub, because he felt the pokeball around his neck twitch.

"I'm taking my daughter and leaving this instant" !

Ryder shook his head, and tried his best to stay calm.

"Nothing happened between us professor," Ryder tried to explain. "Lizy was worried about the pokemon trampling her, and I didn't want to risk your daughter getting hurt, so I let her stay with me".

"Don't lie to me," the professor said. "I know your kind of teenager. Only trying to have a one night stand with the innocent out of town girl, before she leaves. But I'll tell you right now." He clenches his fists. "NOT MY DAUGHTER!"

Ryder took a step forward, barely able to control his rage anymore.

"Ryder Reigns, I challenge you to a one on one Pokemon battle!"

Dragonite stomped past the professor, between the two, and huffed, a high pitched growl emanating from its throat.

Ryder tilted his head to the side.

_Why would he challenge me with a dragon type? _he thought. _Dragons are weak against ice... Unless..._

He suddenly remembered that the professor had only seen his Eevee, and must think that he's Ryder's only pokemon.

Ryder gave a quick wicked smile, before reaching up and grabbing the pokeball from around his neck.

"I accept your challenge!" He yelled, and threw the pokeball into the air.

The ball burst open in a shower of red light, and Ryder's Swinub dropped to the ground, its white hairs raised.

The professor seemed shocked for a second, not expecting the pokemon facing him, but quickly recovered his composure.

"A white Swinub," he said. "I've never seen such a thing."

Ryder nodded.

They stood face to face for a few quick seconds, with Lizy nervously watching them from the sidelines.

"Dragonite!" The professor yelled. "Dragon tail"!

The battle was on.

Dragonite leapt into the air, its tail suddenly glowing a pale purple, and twisted, trying to smash Swinub with a massive blow.

"Swinub dodge it"! Ryder yelled.

Swinub leapt out of the way, just in time, diving behind the Dragonite, right as its massive tail slammed into the ground, creating a massive dust cloud, that enveloped the two.

Both trainers stood and waiting for the dust to settle.

When it finally did clear, Swinub was facing Dragonite, while it still had its back turned to him.

"Swinub!" Ryder shouted. "Use powder snow"!

Swinub opened its mouth, and snorted, and suddenly the wind picked up as snow began to flood towards the professor's pokemon.

"Dragonite dodge it"!

Dragonite braced itself to leap into the air, and as soon as its feet left the ground, it was hammered with a thick wall of wind and snow, knocking it off balance and sailing into the side of the barn.

"Dragonite get up!"

The Dragonite steadied itself, and rose back to its feet. Its face was full of anger, and it roared loudly at Swinub.

"Dragonite! Hyperbeam!" The professor yelled.

Dragonite opened its jaws wide, and there was a bright orange ball of light appeared.

Before Ryder, or Swinub could even react, the ball turned into a massive beam of orange energy that shot from Dragonite's mouth, directly into Swinub, launching into the air, before slamming hard back onto the ground.

"Swinub!" Ryder yelled, and Lizy gasped.

Swinub was laying on the ground, twitching in pain, and there was a high pitched grunting emanating from his mouth.

"Lizy, get your things," the professor said, a smile crossing his face. "That's it".

"Come on Swinub!" Ryder yelled. "We can't let her go!"

Swinub rolled to its feet, shaky but still standing, and turned to face Dragonite again, who was panting heavily, tired from the mass unleashing of energy.

The smile quickly turned to a scowl on the professor's face. "fine," he said. "Let's finish this".

"Agreed". Ryder replied, as he concentrated on the professor.

"Dragonite! Use DRACO METEOR!"

Dragonite flew high into the air, and the sky began to show a red hue.

Before Ryder even knew what was happening, a massive flaming rock burst through the clouds, directly towards Swinub.

"Swinub! Now!" Ryder yelled. "Blizzard!"

The entire yard was suddenly covered in white, as a massive snowstorm quickly came from seemingly nowhere. Dragonite disappeared, but all of the snow seemed to be flooding in towards one area.

Ryder watched, frozen from the snow around him, and tense, as the blizzard continued. He couldn't see a thing, besides Swinub, who was standing on his back legs, squealing loudly as it whipped up the storm.

All at once, the storm disappeared, and Ryder wiped his eyes and rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself up.

The massive meteor had completely disappeared, and Dragonite was face down in the grass, knocked out cold.

The professor stared at Ryder, not breaking eye contact, even as he returned his Dragonite into its pokeball.

Ryder returned Swinub as well, who had gotten extremely weak and even more unstable, and stared directly back at the professor.

In quick strides, the professor came forward, quickly closing the gap, and only stood a few feet away from Ryder. He looked Ryder up and down, seeming to be sizing him up.

Ryder tensed again, and clenched his fists, ready to defend himself, if the professor decided to come at him.

Suddenly the professor's serious face cracked, and he smiled, then began to laugh, extending his arm to Ryder.

"That was some impressive battling!" the professor said. "I haven't had a battle like that, in what seems like forever"!

At first Ryder was confused, but soon relaxed and shook the professor's hand.

"Thanks, it was quite a rush for me as well".

The professor turned to Lizy, still smiling.

"My research isn't finished yet hun, that means We're going to have to stay a little while longer! And I would hate to leave the town when it's in a time of need!"

Lizy smiled and ran to Ryder, jumping up and wrapping her arms around him, before whispering in his ear.

"Thank you..."

Ryder smiled. "Anytime".

"Where did you get that Swinub, if I may ask?" The professor said.

Lizy turned to her father, Ryder's one arm still wrapped around her.

"Well", Ryder said. "It's kind of a long story..."

Ryder went on to explain, once again the story behind his grandfather, and the Swinub, while the professor listened intently, nodding slightly every once in a while, indicating that he was still listening.

When Ryder had finished, the professor stayed quiet for a minute, before turning and walking back towards the road.

"I have to make a call". The professor said.

Ryder turned to Lizy, and raised an eyebrow.

"Does he do this often?" he asked.

Lizy shrugged, and they turned and walked towards the house.

They sat at the kitchen table for a while, while Ryder healed his pokemon.

"No offence," Lizy said. "But I really didn't think you were going to win that battle against my dad, his Dragonite is intense".

"Yeah, I wasn't so sure either, but I wasn't going to just give up, and let him take you".

Lizy smiled, blushed, and looked down embarrassed.

Ryder grabbed her hand, and together they walked back to the house.

Lizy sat down at the table, while Ryder ran upstairs and grabbed the mobile pokemon centre from under his bed, and plugged in his Swinub before going back down the stairs sit with Lizy.

When he got back to the kitchen, Lizy was lost in thought, drawing and jotting down notes in some sort of journal or diary. Ryder figured that it had to do with her pokeball designs.

Ryder just sat and watched her, as she concentrated hard on her drawings.

He craned his neck to see what she was sketching, and saw a pokeball, with holographic insides, some sort of small power cell, and all kinds of different labels, that Ryder wasn't able to see. What interested him the most though was the big white snowflake that covered the pale blue top half of the pokeball.

There was so much detail, that Ryder couldn't believe it, and he had only been watching for twenty minute at the most.

Ryder continued to watch her draw, and started to notice that she was getting frustrated, often crossing out sketches or notes, or even ripping out some of the pages.

"Grrr!" She said frustrated, dropping her pen on the table.

"What's up?" Ryder asked.

"I can't figure this one out!"

Ryder pulled the journal across the table to take a look, when he heard the sound of hooves pounding from the road.

He tilted his head for a moment, listening, when they stopped, just outside his house, and a moment later there was a knock on the door.

Ryder stood up and walked to the door, pulling it open.

On the porch stood Brandon Saunders, dressed in mining gear. A tan brown, thick long sleeve shirt, chocolate brown overalls, black work boots, and wore a yellow hard hat.

"Hello Ryder", he said, extending his hand.

Ryder shook it. "Mr Saunders, what can I do for you?" He asked.

"I'm here to ask you to volunteer to come and help us dig out the miners..." He paused. "And your uncle".

Ryder nodded.

"You don't need to come if you don't want too" Saunders said.

Lizy walked up behind Ryder, wrapping her arms around him, and stepping on her toes to rest her chin on his shoulder.

Brandon raised an eyebrow, "Or... if you two are...Uhm.. busy I could always come back later".

Ryder smiled. He always liked Brandon, he was nothing like his son. He was smart, polite, compassionate, and funny, the complete opposite of Xander.

"No, Mr Saunders, we aren't 'busy'", Ryder replied. "I'll gladly come and give you a hand".

Mr Saunder's smiled. "Much obliged. I can give you a lift, if you would like," he said, motioning to the carriage, being pulled by the Rapidash. The driver just sat at the front, staring into space.

"Will the young miss be joining us?" Saunders asked.

Ryder turned to Lizy.

"Lizy, this is Mr Saunders," Ryder said. "He owns all of the mines around Glacia".

Lizy smiled. "Nice to meet you," she said. "I'll gladly come along and help with whatever I can".

Mr Saunders clapped his hands together. "It's settled than! I'll meet you both in the carriage as soon as your ready".

He turned and walked back to towards the carriage, while Ryder closed the door.

"He seems like a nice guy," Lizy said.

"He is. Mr Saunders was the one who saved my father from the Beartic a couple months ago".

"Wow!" Lizy exclaimed. "He must be one heck of a trainer"!

"He is," Ryder said. "Travelled the world for a while when he was young, and he has the best pokemon around here".

Ryder walked to the kitchen and unplugged Swinub, putting him on his chain, before walking back to the door, not bothering to grab a coat, and together, him and Lizy stepped back outside, and walked to the carriage.

Mr Saunders was standing by the door when they walked up, and he nodded as he pulled the door open.

The inside was covered in red velvet, and the light from the sun, made it seem even more vibrant than normal. The seats inside were a cherry wood, lined with more red velvet cushions.

_This thing must have cost a fortune,_ Ryder thought to himself.

As he stepped inside, he instantly regretted it, because sitting across from him, twirling a pokeball between the fingers on his right hand, was Xander.

He sat down, with Lizy next to him, and he and Xander just stared at each other for a long time, while Mr Saunders closed the door, and walked back to the front of the carriage to sit with the driver.

Xander was wearing a full black suit, and shined shoes, not exactly the type of attire one would wear then they were going to help at a mining excavation.

"Xander". Ryder said. It was the only greeting he would give to Xander.

"Reigns." he replied.

"So my father must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if he brought you in on this".

Ryder began to feel his anger boiling up inside of him.

"Yeah, well at least were going to be doing something". Ryder countered.

Xander shrugged. "My dad has me doing crowd control and interviews all day, I don't need to get my hands dirty".

Ryder rolled his eyes, and the carriage jolted to life, rolling back towards the town.

"Besides, why would he waste a good trainers when he can risk your low life family down there".

Ryder tensed about to jump across the carriage and tear him apart, when suddenly Lizy, who was quiet up until this point snapped.

"Don't you talk to him like that!" she yelled. "Ryder is twice the trainer you'll ever be"!

Xander seemed taken aback, as if he was just noticing that Lizy was there.

"Well who do we have here?" He asked.

"Xander this is Lizy", Ryder said, feeling stupid that he was even bothering to introduce them.

"Hello my dear, Xander Saunders, at your service".

Ryder almost laughed out loud. That was one of the stupidest lines he had ever heard, but it was kind of expected from Xander.

They continued on their ride towards the mine.


	9. Chapter 9: Eevee We Need You!

**Chapter Nine:**

The whole ride there Ryder sat quiet, trying not to be sick, while Xander just sat there and tried to flirt with Lizy, who was rolling her eyes, and shooting Ryder looks that looked like pleas for help.

Ryder suddenly felt the road beginning to become rugged and bumpy, and he knew that they must have reached the earthquake zone.

They all stopped and looked out the small window of the carriage and into the town.

There were people everywhere, trying to pick up the pieces of their broken lives, and destroyed livelihood.

As they passed Aldine's Unique Books and Artifacts, or rather where it used to be, Ryder felt a knot in his stomach, the building was completely demolished, and burnt out. A fire must have started while the earthquake was going on, destroying the entire building, and everything inside.

Ryder learned that Aldine was in the hospital in Apollox, in critical condition, with severe burns, and broken bones, including his skull.

They continued on, while Ryder watched as they passed more and more destroyed buildings.

Ryder was amazed that save Aldine, and the miners, no one was seriously hurt.

He began to hear distant voices, as they got closer and closer to the mine, along with sounds of smashing rocks, massive machinery, and pokemon, as they tried to break through the mineshafts.

The carriage pulled through the gates, which were quickly closed behind them, and stopped.

The door was opened by Mr Saunders, and before anyone could even react, Xander was already out the door, and on the pavement, with a hand extending to "assist" Lizy.

She looked at Ryder for a moment, who was trying to hold back laughter and rolled her eyes.

She jumped down, without touching Xander, and walked right past him.

Ryder climbed out, smirking at Xander, who was still standing with his hand extending, but his face showed clear defeat.

Ryder turned and looked at Mr Saunders.

"Mr Saunders, where are my parents and professor Diotte?" Ryder asked.

"Please call me Brandon," he said. "And your father and the professor are at the entrance, and your mother is in the main building, comforting worried family members".

"Alright thanks Brandon," Ryder said, turning to Lizy. "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and pulled out her Ghost ball tossing it up into the air. When it opened, Ghastly was hovering, looking around at all of the people.

"Wow, a Ghastly," Brandon gasped. "We don't get many ghost types around here".

"So I've been told". Lizy said looking at Ryder.

Xander just stood watching Ghastly, pale as ever, seemingly terrified.

Ryder turned and finally noticed the scenery.

Everywhere he looked were miners, and their pokemon, as he and Lizy walked towards the entrance.

Ryder saw the covered wagon from the night before, but the two Rhyhorns were nowhere in sight.

They reached the entrance, and met up with their fathers, John with his Flareon, who was sniffing the ground, trying to find any trace of the miners, while the professors Dragonite worked with a dozen rock and fighting types, trying to dig, or smash through the rocks.

They had already gone pretty far in, about one hundred feet, but still had a ways to go it seemed.

Ryder had to sidestep a Machamp, as it sprinted towards the mine, its trainer barely keeping up.

Ryder saw Rhyhorns, and Rhydons, moving in and out of the entrance, some tired, other frustrated, but most were ready to get the miners out.

The covered wagon was near the entrance to the mine, its contents still hidden, but the Rhyhorns must have been sent into the mine to help with what they can.

Ryder and Lizy continued to walk though the mineshaft, when suddenly she froze.

"Are you alright?" Ryder asked, stopping and staring at her.

She remained silent for a moment, before turning and walking towards the massive red brick main building with Spook quickly in toe.

"I'll be back in a minute!" She yelled to Ryder. "I just got a new breakthrough for the Glacier ball!"

Ryder watched as she walked, and was suddenly intercepted by Xander, who must have been watching her from the gate entrance.

He stopped and talked with her for a minute, before walking with her to the main building, glancing nervously at Spook.

Ryder rolled his eyes and sighed at Xander's feeble attempted to get with Lizy. She obviously wasn't the type of girl to go for money.

Ryder walked back to the opening, watching the pokemon moving in and out of the mines, when suddenly he heard Xander screaming.

He turned towards the main building, and sure enough Xander was sprinting out the door, screaming his head off with Spook following him, a big smile on his face.

Ryder began to laugh uncontrollably, as he saw Xander run all the way back to his father's carriage.

Soon Lizy emerged from the building, a big smile on her face, and walked back to Ryder, and was soon joined again by Spook, who was smug as ever.

Lizy explained to Ryder that as soon as Lizy sat down at the table, Xander quickly joined her, and just kept talking and flirting, breaking Lizy's concentration, so Spook made the room go dark again with smokescreen, then he used curse to make his eyes to a deep purple, then chased Xander out.

Ryder was laughing so hard, he couldn't breathe. It really did make sense that the arrogant and stuck up Xander was afraid of ghost pokemon. Sure they're a little surprising at first, but they usually turn out to be extremely friendly.

Ryder shook his head as they finally reached the collapsed part of the tunnel, where there was two Rhydons drilling with their massive horns, trying to get through the rock as carefully as possible.

Suddenly a Diglett, dug its way out from the rubble from the other side, and everyone was shocked.

"Hey!" Someone yelled. "That's Max's Diglett"!

The Diglett was clearly exhausted, because it had time to look around the room, squeak once, then fainted.

It was quickly rushed out of the mine by a medical Chansey, and brought to the main building, while Ryder's father rolled, and the professor, and Brandon stepped through the crowd to inspect the hole.

"It's too small for any of us to fit through," John said solemnly.

"We need to get a pokemon or something in there to give them some food and water". The professor chimed in.

"And not to mention so that they know that were looking for them," said Brandon.

Suddenly Ryder had an idea.

He grabbed the pokeball off of his belt, and pressed the centre button, expanding it, and then opening it.

After the pokeball release its red light, Eevee was standing on the ground, staring back up at Ryder.

John, the professor, and Brandon all stopped and looked at Eevee.

"He'll be perfect!" Brandon said. "Can we use him"?

Ryder nodded, and Brandon ran back to the main building, while the professor and John inspected Eevee, while Ryder watched the hole.

Lizy bent down and was petting Eevee, as he nuzzled against her warmly, and soon Brandon returned, with some ration packs, and two bottles of water.

"So how do we plan on attaching this stuff to Eevee?" Ryder asked. "He doesn't have pockets you know".

Brandon smiled, and held out some sort of harness.

"We used these to transport things on our Growlithe, with a few adjustments, it should be able to fit Eevee".

Brandon fit the harness around Eevee's back, while Eevee squirmed playfully, then attached the food and water to the harness.

"Alright, we're all set here," Brandon said, standing back up, and stretching out.

Ryder bent down and took his place.

"All right little buddy," Ryder said to him. "I need you to go through the hole on the wall there," he pointed to the small Diglett tunnel, "and I need you to find the trapped miners and uncle Max, and just stay with them as long as you can".

Eevee looked at the hole, then back at Ryder nervously, whimpering softly.

"It'll be alright buddy," Ryder said, petting his head, trying to comfort him. "We'll be in there as soon as possible".

Eevee let out a high pitched bark, signalling that he was ready to go, and then he took off, squeezing himself into the tiny hole, then disappearing into the darkness.

The room was silent for a moment, before Brandon got the attention of the crowd.

"Alright everyone"! He shouted. "It's going to be dark soon, so we're going to call it a night, everyone can report back to their homes or camps, we can start again in the morning".

Ryder and Lizy began to make their way through the crowd of miners, as they all left the mines and headed back to their camps.

As they reached the entrance, they met up with Ryder's parents and the professor.

Lizy took Spook and returned him to his pokeball.

"That was a good thing you did down there with your Eevee," the professor said.

Ryder nodded. "I just hope that everything works out alright".

The five of them stayed and talked for a few minutes, before heading their separate ways.

When Ryder finally got back to the ranch, it was dark, and Ryder was tired, so he went right upstairs and went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: A New Companion

Hey guys, just so you know, Lizy has her own POV of Legends of Cataria, you should all check it out! ;)

Tazie-D Check her out, she has some of the art from the book as well :)

**Chapter Ten:**

In the morning, Ryder woke up, and ate breakfast quickly with his parents, before the three of them left and went back to the mines, where the professor and Lizy were already waiting.

Lizy ran up and hugged Ryder, who then walked up to the professor and shook his hand.

"Any news from Eevee?" Ryder asked.

The professor shook his head.

The miners were all heading back into the mines, with their pokemon, as Ryder's mom went back to the main building.

As they reached the entrance, Ryder saw a group of miners that had formed a ring around a Breloom, and another pokemon that Ryder couldn't see. They were laughing and cheering.

Ryder tilted his head, and began to walk over, and nearly fell over when he really saw what was going on.

The Breloom was attacking a young Shieldon, who was just trying to get away, but the miners kept throwing it back in the ring.

The Shieldon was squeaking as it tried to escape, but the Breloom wouldn't let up.

Ryder noticed who the trainer was.

He was a heavy set man, in his mid forties, with a huge beer gut, salt and pepper hair, and a scruffy beard.

"You useless pokemon!" He shouted, "Breloom get that stupid thing out of my sight! Use low sweep"!

"BRE!" The Breloom shouted, and swung its tail with massive force, taking out the Shieldon's legs, and knocking it to the ground. Ryder could tell that the poor Shieldon couldn't take much more.

Ryder ran up into the circle, and tore the pokeball from its chain.

"Swinub!" He shouted throwing the pokeball. "Come out and use tackle on that Breloom"!

Swinub came soaring out of the pokeball, and without touching the ground, soared over the heads of the gawking miners, and smashed the Breloom square in the chest, knocking it to the ground.

"What the hell..." The big miner said, confused. "Breloom get your ass up, and fight back"!

The Breloom quickly got to its feet, and stood facing Swinub, who had landed softly on the concrete, between Breloom and Shieldon.

"Stay out of this kid," the miner said. "This is between me and my pokemon. Well ex pokemon". He flashed a glance at Shieldon, who was struggling to its feet, trying to limp its way towards Ryder.

"Lizy get the Shieldon back," Ryder said, staring down the miner.

"You can't take him from me!" The miner shouted in rage. "He's MY Pokemon"!

"Technically..." Another miner interjected. "You did release him".

"Shut up!" The miner yelled. "Guys get up here".

From behind him, three more miners, all massive men, stepped up next to him. Each drew a pokeball, and threw it into the air.

In the blink of an eye, there was now a Machoke, Primape, and Donphan, along with the Breloom all squaring off and glaring at Swinub, and Lizy struggled to get the small but heavy Shieldon out of harm's way.

Ryder knew that Swinub had no chance against all four Pokemon, but knew that he might be able to give Lizy a chance to get the Shieldon away from the miners.

"Well this isn't fair at all now is it," a voice called from behind Ryder, and a moment later John rolled up next to him, in his wheelchair, to Ryder's right and Flareon had bounded forward next to Swinub.

"I say we even the odds a little bit." Said another voice to his left.

Professor Diotte stepped up to Ryder's left, and Dragonite slammed down from the skies to Swinub's left, head lowered and ready to battle.

As if on cue, Spook came floating up between Swinub and Dragonite, his two fangs bared, and eyes locked on his opponents, and Lizy stepped between Ryder and the professor, and interlocked her fingers with his.

"We have you back Ryder," she said.

The miners seemed worried, but Ryder continued to stare down the burly man, who was staring right back at him.

Suddenly Brandon's Arcanine bolted in between the two teams with its ExtremeSpeed.

Brandon followed a few moments later.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He shouted. "I understand that your all under a lot of stress, but we need to focus on the greater good, there's no point in all of your Pokemon being injured because of a pointless battle. The quarrel is between Ryder and... this gentlemen".

"Tom." The miner said, still not taking his eyes off Ryder.

"Alright, Tom", Brandon said. "We should allow them, and only them to battle and settle this dispute".

Ryder looked at John, Lizy, and the Professor. "It's alright guys," he said. "I got this".

The three returned their pokemon, and Lizy shot Ryder a concerned look, before backing away, and into the crowd.

Tom looked to his left and right, and nodded, and the other miners did the same. It was now Ryder and Swinub, against Tom and Breloom.

"You shouldn't treat your Pokemon that way". Ryder said sternly.

Swinub snorted in agreement.

"Don't tell me how to treat my Pokemon boy." Tom countered. "And after we beat you, I'm going to take my piece of crap Shieldon back, and we'll see how it shapes up after I'm done with it".

Ryder couldn't believe that someone would want to beat such a rare fossil Pokemon.

The only way to revive a fossilized Pokemon in the Cataria Region, was to work for the Schultz Mining Company. Even if you were to find a fossil of a pokemon, the Schultz Headquarters in Apollox, was the only place that had the equipment to actually revive one.

Suddenly, the battle was on.

"Breloom use Megadrain"!

Breloom bounded towards Swinub, and Ryder could see the green energy flowing out of Swinub, towards Breloom.

Swinub didn't even flinch though. Grass moves were highly ineffective against Swinub.

"Swinub, use Power Snow! Then follow up with a tackle!" Ryder shouted.

The Breloom was blinded and pelted by the icy snow, and from the white, Swinub came barreling out at full tilt, and smashed into Breloom, sending it sailing into Tom, knocking them both onto the pavement.

This was a new combination Ryder and Swinub had been working on, called Frozen Fury. Ryder wanted to try and teach Swinub with Blizzard instead, but Swinub's Blizzard attack wasn't focused enough, and was still out of control.

The snow subsided, and Ryder saw Tom on the ground, with Breloom collapsed on top of him.

Tom sat up, knocking his Breloom to its feet.

"Come on you weak excuse for a pokemon. GET UP!" Tom yelled at the top of his lungs.

Breloom struggled to its feet, trying to please its trainer but was barely able to stand.

"You need to learn to treat your pokemon better". Ryder said sternly. "They will never be as powerful as a Pokemon who is loved and cared for".

Tom shook his head. "Come on then, let's see what your made of".

Ryder shook his head. _This guy has some major issues_, Ryder thought. _But still he_ _needs to be taught a lesson._

"Breloom! Finish this now with Solarbeam!" Tom yelled.

Breloom opened its mouth wide, and a yellowish white ball of energy began to form as it charged its Solarbeam.

Before Ryder could tell Swinub what to do, Swinub reared up on its hind legs, and let out its loud squeal, like Ryder had seen it try before, and then slammed back down, hard.

A tiny crack opened up in the ground, beneath Swinub's feet, and was only small enough for anyone who was looking for it to see.

It travelled across the pavement, and right as it reached the Breloom's feet, a tiny chunk of earth was forced upwards, throwing the Breloom off balance, and sending it face first to the ground at its trainer's feet, right as the Solarbeam was released.

There was a fairly large explosion, and the two opponents were lost in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Ryder stood, shocked for a moment before realizing what had actually happened.

Swinub had actually learned Earthquake!

As small as the Earthquake may have been, it was still an extremely effective attack, and clearly the people in the crowd had taken notice.

Seconds later, the crowd began to clap, and cheer, as the smoke cleared showing both Tom, and Breloom had been knocked out cold, and Ryder had won!

As the crowd cheered, Ryder could hear the sound of heavily, pounding feet against the concrete, and as Ryder turned, his eyes went wide.

A Rampardos was charging through the crowd, head bowed, and was headed right for Lizy! while Spook, once again out of his pokeball, wasn't paying any attention.

"Alright so you want some too?!" Ryder shouted, as the crowd took notice of the charging pokemon.

They screamed and dived out of the way, as Ryder skidded in front of Lizy, barring the Rampardos' way.

"Swinub!" Ryder yelled, "Use-".

"Stop!" Lizy yelled, "I know that Pokemon"!

Ryder took his eyes off the Rampardos for only a fraction of a second, but it was just enough time for it to jump clean over Ryder, and Ryder looked up and saw its grey underbelly, and tackled Lizy to the ground.


	11. Chapter 11: Anthony

**Chapter Eleven:**

Lizy began to laugh hysterically as the massive Rampardos nuzzled itself against her, being extremely careful about it spikes, and thick skull.

Ryder stood, frozen, with Swinub right by his side, waiting to see if things go bad, so he would be ready to help her.

Soon it let Lizy up, and she jumped to her feet, and ran towards Ryder, grabbing his hands and pulling him as she followed the now trotting away Rampardos.

"Come on!", she yelled excitedly. "There's someone I want you to meet"!

Ryder narrowed his eyes, a little wary as to who was the owner of the Rampardos, and as they followed it across the pavement, Ryder soon knew that this would be an awkward meeting.

The Rampardos turned and faced Lizy as it got back to its trainer.

He was the same age as Ryder, but a little shorter, with short black hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and the burly muscular body of a typical miner.

He stood there, with a big smile on his face and his arms crossed.

Ryder came to a dead stop, almost as if he hit an invisible wall, and his entire body tensed. He wasn't sure why, but he felt threatened.

Lizy ran up and jumped into his arms, as Spook and Swinub each stopped on either side of Ryder.

Spook was hissing menacingly, but too quiet for Lizy and the other guy to hear.

_Yeah,_ Ryder thought. _I agree._

Ryder stood still as Lizy and the other guy walked up to him, both smiling. He walked with a slight limp, possibly from a leg injury.

"Ryder this is Anthony," she said. "Anthony, meet Ryder Reigns".

Ryder nodded, but Anthony held out his hand.

"So this is the guy I've been hearing so much about!" He said.

Ryder, not wanting to be rude, shook his hand with a rock solid grip, he took satisfaction when he saw a slight flinch in Anthony's eyes.

"That's funny," Ryder said. "I haven't heard a single thing about you".

Anthony tilted his head, and went on to explain, how he and Lizy had met in his town of Roggenrolla Valley, Anthony's hometown, and how he had shown her around the mines, while she was researching her rock ball, and how he took her up to the peak of a mountain, and they kissed, and have been writing to each other ever since, planning to pick up where they left off.

Ryder was filled with more and more rage after each word.

When Anthony was finished, all Ryder could say was "How about that".

"That's the strangest looking Swinub that I've ever seen," Anthony pointed out, and he looked at Swinub, who was sniffing his boots.

"Yep, that's my companion." Ryder replied.

"Along with Tom's Shieldon now it seems. Tom is really a hotheaded prick, but he's also my boss... so I don't really know how I'm supposed to react here, whether to just beat you and take him back, or just let it go".

He shot a look at Lizy, and Ryder instantly knew that he was trying to impress her.

Swinub snorted, and quickly took his place next to Ryder.

"You could try," Ryder said threateningly, narrowing his eyes, "But something tells me this won't end well for you".

Anthony pulled a pokeball from his pocket, and expanded it.

"Well I guess we're going to have to see".

Ryder's adrenaline was getting the best of him now.

He knew that Swinub had type advantage, but Cranidos was fast, and it's foot thick skull could do a lot of damage, quickly.

Before either of them could make their move, Lizy stepped in between them.

"You two need to just calm down and breathe a little bit".

Ryder was ready to rumble, but Lizy's beauty always seemed to calm him down.

Anthony quickly returned his pokeball into its pocket, and stepped up behind Lizy, who was staring into Ryder's eyes, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Alright, I'll let him go, just for my gorgeous girl," Anthony said. "This time".

Ryder took a step towards him, with his fists clenched, ready to tear Anthony apart, when suddenly a hand rested on his shoulder.

Ryder spun quickly and saw Xander, standing there, with his hand on Ryder's shoulder.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

Ryder nodded., and looked over his shoulder at Anthony, who was still holding Lizy.

"Gladly".

As much as he hated Xander, anything would be better than standing there, watching Anthony move back in on Lizy.

He returned Swinub to his pokeball, and hooked it back on the chain, before walking after Xander.

_ I can't believe she didn't tell me about him..._ Ryder thought. _And that she would let me get so close to her, when she was planning on going back to Anthony._

Ryder followed Xander back towards the main building, and looked back one more time at Anthony and Lizy.

Anthony was blabbing his mouth off, but Lizy was looking at Ryder. She shot him a sad, half-smile, and lowered her said, as if to say "I'm sorry".

Ryder had still not calmed down, so he was still extremely angry, and just turned away, and continued to follow Xander.

When they reached the main building, Xander stopped and turned to face Ryder.

"That was an impressive battle, you against that miner," he said. "I always knew you could hold your own".

Ryder raised an eyebrow. _What the hell is this guy playing at?_

"I have something for you," he continued.

He held out his hand, and Ryder looked down.

There was a small, compacted blue and white pokeball, with two red stripes running across it.

It was a Great ball.

They were relatively cheap pokeball in most places in Cataria, but in Glacia, people rarely saw them.

"Why are you giving this to me"? Ryder asked. "I thought you hated me"?

Ryder reached out and took the Great ball, waiting for some ignorant prank, but was shocked when there wasn't anything.

"There's a lot of things you're going to learn about me," Xander replied. "Very soon".

With that, Xander turned and walked away.

"Oh, by the way, that Shieldon you saved is in the main building with your mother, if you still plan on capturing it".

Ryder stood there, extremely confused. It was as if a switch had flipped in his brain, after Ryder's battle, and it quite quickly, and violently changed him. Ryder wasn't complaining though, it seemed to be for the better.

Ryder turned and looked back towards Lizy and Anthony, and through the crowds of miners, he caught a glimpse of them, talking with professor Diotte. They seemed to be having a good time.

Ryder lowered his eyes, and walked though the two glass doors, into the main building.

The inside was bright, and the mood seemed cheerful, as he walked into the massive conference room.

There was a massive oak table in the centre of the room, and a row of chairs on each side for the supervisors. People were heading all over the place, moving past Ryder, some flashing him a smile, or nodding, but most just walked by.

In the centre of the room, Shieldon was asleep on the table, crouched, while a Chansey watched it carefully. Next to the Chansey was Ryder's mom.

Ryder walked up to her. "how is he?" he asked.

She flashed him a smile. "He's going to be alright," she said. "I think he needs a new trainer".

Ryder smiled, and rolled the Great ball through his fingers, before hitting the centre button, expanding it.

Ryder looked down, then back to the Shieldon, before gently tossing it, at the sleeping pokemon.

He was pulled into the ball quickly, and it only shook once, before the ball stopped, and Ryder knew that he had a new companion.

Ryder smiled, and turned to his mom, who quickly gave him a hug, before he turned and walked back to the mine.

There were less pokemon this time, when he reached the massive wall of rubble, but still a good amount of people were watching, including Brandon, and John, but Lizy, Anthony, and even the professor were all missing.

_They must have taken off somewhere,_ Ryder thought.

As he met up with his father and Brandon, John turned to him.

"Where's, Lizy?" He asked. "I thought you two were attached at the hip"?

Ryder just stared at the Diglett tunnel. "She's with her boyfriend".

John looked confused, then looked around at all of the miners, then nodded.

"I'm sorry buddy".

Ryder just shrugged.

They stayed and watched the tunnel for what seemed like a lifetime, waiting for something to happen, or Eevee to emerge.

Ryder was edgy, and needed some fresh air, so he thought he would walk back to the house, and grab his mobile pokemon centre, to finish healing up Shieldon, and let Swinub relax.

He wanted to air out his Absol wound as well.

It was healing up well, but was extremely itchy still, and would leave a very prominent scar.

Ryder told his father where he was going, before walking out and down the road, towards his house.

It was quiet as he walked, and that only left him alone with his thoughts.

_Why would Lizy hurt me like this, it's pretty obvious how I feel about her..._ He thought. _I wonder what they're doing right now._

Ryder flinched at the thought, then ran the rest of the way home, and quickly got upstairs, and grabbed the little mobile centre, and plugged in his Swinub and Shieldon, then quickly took off his shirt and changed took off the bandage.

The wound was scabbed over, and the edges were already scarring.

_It's going to be a pretty awesome scar at least, Ryder thought._

Ryder grabbed a new shirt, and checked his pokemon.

They still had a couple of minutes to charge, so Ryder decided he wanted to check on the Piloswine.

As he got outside, he walked over to the pens, and saw that the young Swinub, had all evolved into bigger and more powerful Piloswine.

_I wonder why my Swinub hasn't evolved yet..._ Ryder thought.

He watched them, as they grazed for little mushrooms and things in the grass, and some butted heads, trying to impress the females.

Soon he decided that it was time to grab his pokemon and head back to the mine, so he ran back inside, and to his room, unplugging his pokemon, hooking Swinub to his chain, and Shieldon onto his belt, before walking back onto the road.

As he walked, he began to feel strange, as if he was being watched, but every time he looked around, there was nobody around.

Ryder began to pick up speed, when suddenly he knew something was wrong.

He spun around, and saw it once again.

The Absol that had scarred him was only a few feet from Ryder, just staring at him.

Ryder jerked his arm up, and tore Swinub from his chain, then Shieldon from his belt, holding a pokeball in each hand.

Ryder was ready to throw both pokeballs, and take on the Absol, when suddenly a voice invaded his head.

_Don't. _ The voice said.

Ryder looked around, but saw no one, other than the Absol.

"Who said that?" Ryder shouted.

_I did. _The voice said again.

Absol took a step towards him, and Ryder put two and two together. The Absol was using Telepathy!

_I'm sorry for everything that had happened._ It said. _I have no control over what happens._

"Why are you here?" Ryder asked.

_Darkness had fallen onto Cataria._ It said softly. _Glacia is about to be subject to a very evil entity, and only the chosen ones can stop it._

"Who are the chosen ones?"

_You will know soon enough. Now you must go to the mines, there is about to be another collapse!_

Ryder's eyes went wide, and the Absol jumped back into the tress, towards the Spire once again.

Ryder took frozen for a moment, as the words sank in, before turning and running as fast as he could, back to the mines.


	12. Chapter 12: Closure

**Chapter Twelve:**

Ryder ran as fast as he could down the road, dodging people as he ran through the town.

Ryder reached the mine, where everyone was already clearing out, as if something was happening.

Ryder saw Brandon and bolted up to him.

"What's going on?" Ryder asked. "Where's everyone going?"

"We made enough headway, that there's only a couple feet worth of rock to go, so we're going to bring in a precision mining team to finish the job," Brandon said with a smile.

Ryder shook his head. "You need to get everyone out of the mine right now"!

Brandon's smile faded, into a very worried, and serious expression, while John had rolled himself up to him.

"What's going on?" John asked.

"Ryder thinks we need to evacuate the mine for some odd reason," Brandon replied.

Ryder was getting frantic.

"You guys don't understand," he yelled. "On my way back here, I saw it again"!

"Saw what Ryder?" John asked.

"The Absol"!

John's eyes went wide, and Brandon instantly ran towards the main building.

Ryder began to run towards the entrance, pushing miners and people out of the way.

_I have to get Eevee!_ He screamed in his head.

As he ran, an evacuation alarm began to sound, a long low pitched alarm that gradually increased in its pitch, then repeated. Like a nuclear alarm.

People began frantically running away from the entrance, and out of the mine.

Right as Ryder reached the mine entrance, the ground began to shake again.

He ignored it, as people were pushing past him, and he thought he heard Lizy.

"Ryder!" She screamed from the safe area away from the entrance. "Don't go in there"!

Ryder looked back, and saw her, with her father and Anthony, staring at him.

Ryder stared for a moment, then ran into the mine, breaking through the crowd of people.

He was now alone, and the shaking in the mine was getting worse, as he ran through the tunnel, until he reached the collapsed shaft.

"Eevee!" He yelled into the Diglett tunnel. "Come on"!

The shaking continued, and got to the point where Ryder could barely keep himself balanced.

"Eevee!" Ryder yelled.

Suddenly, Eevee came shooting from the hole, and running towards Ryder.

Ryder grabbed the pokeball, and returned his Eevee, right as the Diglett tunnel, and everything behind the wall collapsed, coating Ryder in a massive cloud of dust and rubble.

Ryder turned, and ran back towards the entrance, completely blind, but suddenly the ceiling in front of him came down as well, trapping Ryder.

Ryder was choking from the dust, as he tried to feel his way around, for any exit he could find, but to no avail.

The shaking gradually faded back to the stillness but Ryder waited for the dust to settle until taking in his surroundings.

It was dark, almost pitch black, as his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was completely blocked in, and didn`t even know which way was the way out.

Ryder hooked Eevee back onto his pokebelt, and decided to just sit down.

He was too tired to try and dig his way out, and if something were to happen, he would rather just have his pokemon inside their pokeballs, were they would be safe.

_So this is how it`s going to end..._ Ryder thought to himself. _Alone, and trapped in a stupid mine._

"How could I be so stupid"! Ryder yelled, and punched the stone wall in front of him.

His knuckles were now bleeding, and he re opened the wound slightly in his chest, which began to sting.

Ryder had no idea how long he had been in the dark for, but began to feel a little bit light headed.

_The air in the pocket I'm in must be running low,_ Ryder thought. _Could this really be the end?_

Ryder decided it was time to just let nature take its course, so he laid down and closed his eyes, letting the immense fatigue wash over him, and picturing Lizy in his mind.

Suddenly the room began to shake again, making Ryder sit back up, and from directly in front of him, a blast of pure energy, Hyperbeam, shot through the collapsed wall, disintegrating the rubble, and causing a wave of fresh air to fill up the room again.

Professor Diotte's Dragonite burst through the rubble, along with Tom and his Breloom, which really surprised Ryder.

Tom and the professor rushed forward, while Breloom and Dragonite kept watch for more collapses.

Tom ran over to Ryder and helped him up.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Ryder nodded, still groggy and dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

"We saw you go in there, and even though you took my pokemon, I owe you respect and an apology".

Ryder smiled weakly, "Thanks".

As the pokemon cleared the rest of the rock, Ryder became more steadied, as he walked the dizziness off, he was met by Brandon and the professor.

"Did you get your Eevee?" The professor asked.

Ryder nodded, then remembered that the other side had collapsed as well.

"The rest of the mineshaft collapsed," Ryder said, "We need to get in there now"!

Brandon ran back to the entrance, then yelled something, and ran back in.

Suddenly, from the entrance, Ryder saw the covered wagon, being backed in, towards the collapsed wall, pushed by the Rhyhorns again.

As it reached the rubble, the miner that was driving, stepped out, and opened the back of the wagon.

"Step back!" The driver yelled.

Ryder stepped back, as a massive Rhyperior stepped off of the wagon, its massive head almost touching the top of the tunnel.

The wagon rose about a foot and a half, and creaked as it came off, massive cannon-like arms loaded, and drill already spinning.

It stepped up to the rubble wall, and slammed its massive drill into it, using Horn drill attack to pulverise the rock, and then slammed its massive arms into the wall as well.

"Stand clear!" The Rhyherior's trainer shouted. "You may want to cover your ears as well".

Ryder, Brandon to his left and the professor to his right, Ryder didn't flinch, while the professor and Brandon both covered their ears.

"Rhyperior!" It's trainer shouted. "Rock Wrecker"!

The Rhyperior fired its cannon arms into the wall, with a massive bang, and the wall instantly came crumbling down, creating a massive cloud of dust.

Ryder had to cover his eyes, as the cloud engulfed him, and everyone else.

As they waiting for the dust to clear, Ryder thought that now this would be all over, the miners would go home, and Uncle Max would be alright.

The dust cleared, and Ryder's heart sank.

The wall of rubble had cleared, but behind it, a massive chunk of ceiling had collapsed.

From under the piles of broken and fallen rock, something pale was sticking out, soft and limp.

What Ryder was staring at was a human hand.

Ryder stared for a moment, before Brandon ordered Ryder and the professor to get out, and calling in the precision mining teams and the medical teams.

Ryder knew that it was too late for his uncle, or any of the other miners who had been buried.

As he reached the mine entrance, everyone was staring at him.

The professor laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to re assure him that everything would be alright, but Ryder was deep in shock.

Everything was in slow motion, as the people stared at him, he looked around the crowd.

He saw all of the familiar faces of the Glacian miners and their families, the miners from Roggenrolla Valley, standing with them was Tom, with the look of anticipation on his face, along with the rest of the miners.

Then right in front of him, Ryder saw Lizy and Anthony. He didn't have his hands on her this time, but was still close, as everyone looked to him for answers as to what had happened, to him, and with the trapped Glacian miners inside.

All Ryder did was look to the ground, then slowly he shook his head.

People started to cry, some collapsed, but most were in shock.

Ryder didn't say anything to anyone, and just walked forwards towards the road.

He passed right by Lizy, who touched his hand with the tips of her fingers, Anthony too stupid or too distracted to notice, but Ryder just needed to get away.

He made it to the roads, and heard Brandon, over a megaphone, addressing the crowds, but his ears sounded like there were crashing tidal waves, so he couldn't hear anything.

It was a long, slow walk back to his house.

When he reached the house, it had gotten dark.

Ryder's parents were still gone, and Amanda must be at a friend's house.

Ryder's shock began to wear off, and all he could think of was the need to sleep.

He slowly sauntered his way up to his bedroom, undressed, and dropped himself into bed

It was almost instantaneous that Ryder fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, Ryder was awoken by a strange feeling, and the hairs rising on the back of his neck, and on his arms.

Ryder tossed and turned, but couldn't get himself comfortable, so he rolled to one side and looked out the window.

Directly outside his window, Ryder saw a dark shadow, and a small, pale red light, just hovering.

_ What the hell?_ He thought to himself. _Is that Spook?_

Ryder pulled himself out of bed, and threw on some jeans, before slowly making his way to the window.

"Spook what are you doing?" Ryder asked.

The shape just hovered, unmoving.

As Ryder's vision became sharper, and he woke up, he moved closer, then finally saw what the shape really was.

Outside the window, staring directly at Ryder was a small Duskull.

Ryder backed away, grabbing his Swinub's pokeball from the chain, ready to defend himself, but the Duskull just continued to hover for a moment, before floating back down towards the pens.

Ryder ran downstairs, forgetting his other pokemon, grabbed his jacket, and ran outside.

The Duskull was hovering towards the barn, and stopped once to see if Ryder was still following, before disappearing inside.

As Ryder reached the partially open barn door, he hesitated.

Ryder knew that the Duskulls were a bad omen, sent as death's reapers, from the mythology of the Glacian Aboriginals, called the Natara, but really they probably didn't pose much of a threat to Ryder and Swinub, so Ryder took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The barn was dark, but Ryder for some reason could still see, and the Duskull was nowhere in sight.

"Hello?" Ryder called out.

There was no response.

Ryder looked around then shook his head.

_I must have been seeing things, _he thought, then turned to walk out.

Floating between him and the door, was the Duskull.

Suddenly there were dozens, spinning around him, in a spiral.

Ryder was scared, and flailed around, trying to knock some of them away, but no luck.

Suddenly they picked up speed, and shot upwards, and then out the door.

Ryder looked behind him, and there was a Dusknoir, watching him.

"What do you want from me?!" Ryder yelled to the massive pokemon.

"Noir!" It shrieked, then it launched a purple ring of energy from its eye, and it hit Ryder right in the face.

Ryder became very drowsy, then collapsed, his vision going back, and falling asleep.


	13. Chapter 13: Training

**Chapter Thirteen:**

When Ryder awoke, his head felt like it was filled with hornets.

He barely remembered anything from the night before, but he had somehow ended up in the barn.

Ryder sat up, and realized that he was covered in some kind of thick purple blanket.

As he picked it up, a sudden shock hit Ryder, flooding back all of the memories of yesterday.

He saw the mine collapse, the human hand, and then he saw the Duskull at his window.

He remembered following it back to the barn, and then the spiral of them that surrounded him. Although he tried as hard as he could, Ryder still could not remember how he had fallen asleep, or anything past the spiral.

_They must have done something to me..._ He thought, as he stood up, walking back to the house, still holding the cloth.

As he entered the house, Ryder's father was sitting in his wheelchair, drinking coffee and staring off into space. He had heavy bags under his eyes.

"Hey dad," Ryder said as he walked past him, and patted him on the shoulder softly.

John gave Ryder a half smile, but said nothing.

As Ryder reached the stairs, he could hear his mother walking to Amanda, and Amanda sobbing uncontrollably.

_She must be telling Amanda the news,_ Ryder thought to himself.

He silently crept up the stairs, and into his room, getting dressed, and clipping on his pokebelt, before tucking the strange blanket under his head, and heading back outside.

As Ryder walked towards the Piloswine pens, it began to sink in that his uncle Max really was gone.

The gut wrenching feeling almost made Ryder double over, as it began to feel more and more real to him.

There were never any accidents in the mine, this was the first one to happen since the Saunders, had opened the mine, and around the same time as Max had settled back in Glacia.

Ryder thought that it was a little strange, that the day Brandon opened a massive mine, uncle Max shows back up, with a lot of unexplained money, and instantly got a job in the mines.

It never really hit him until now, but that was really strange, and even suspicious.

Ryder shook the thought from his head.

_Why are you getting suspicious about your dead uncle?_ He asked himself._ Even if there was something going on with Max and Brandon, it's too late to ask him about it now._

Ryder hadn't even realized that he was in the forest already, until the ranch was completely out of sight.

The trees were now green, and the forest was alive with different pokemon, that only would show up in the late spring and be gone again by the fall.

Ryder reached a clearing, and grabbed each of his pokeballs, from the belt, and the chain, before throwing them into the air.

After the white light had disappeared, Ryder's three pokemon were all staring at him, perhaps sensing his torn emotions.

"Alright guys," Ryder said softly. "I won't let anything happen to any of you, so we're going to have to train hard, if we want to be strong".

Swinub snorted, Eevee let out his high pitched bark, and Shieldon stomped the ground with its heavy front feet.

"Alright, Eevee, I want to train you as my tracker," Ryder said. "This means that I will give you a mission, or something to find, and you'll find it for me, at least until you know some more powerful attacks".

Eevee rubbed against Ryder's leg, affectionately, apparently enjoying the idea of a special game of fetch.

Ryder looked around on the ground, and saw an Aspear tree growing off to his left, with a single berry still growing on it.

He walked over to the tree, and plucked the berry from its low hanging branch, and held it out to Eevee.

"Alright buddy," Ryder said. "I need you to find me three more of these".

Eevee stepped forward and sniffed the berry for a couple of seconds, before looking around and running off into the forest.

Ryder watched it go for a few seconds, before turning back to Swinub and Shieldon, who were both standing there, watching Ryder.

"Alright you two, let's see what happens if I pit you against each other".

The pokemon looked at each other for a moment, before turning and facing one another, ready to battle.

"Swinub! Use Powder Snow".

Swinub snorted and kicked up the a small snowstorm, pelting Shieldon.

Shieldon shrugged off the attack, as if nothing had happened, and shook of the snow that had settled on its armoured skull plate.

Shieldon rushed at Swinub, with surprising speed, trying to tackle.

"Swinub, dodge it!" Ryder yelled. "Counter with Mud Bomb"!

Swinub dove out of the way, as Shieldon ran right by him, and quickly dug up a ball of mud, launching it at Shieldon, and knocking it face first to the ground.

Shieldon quickly got back to his feet, and spun towards Swinub, getting frustrated.

Shieldon stood on its back legs, then slammed back down, launching five rocks into the air.

As the rocks fell back towards the ground, Shieldon head butted them towards Swinub. He was using a Rock Blast attack.

The first two rocks went wide, completely missing Swinub, the third and fourth rocks just clipped him as Swinub weaved back and forth. The last rock smashed into Swinub directly in the face.

The attack wasn't effective, and Swinub stayed strong.

"Swinub! Mud Bomb again!"

Swinub kicked up another ball, this time hitting Shieldon right in the face, knocking him to the ground.

As angry as Shieldon had gotten, it could barely get up, and Ryder didn't want to really hurt Shieldon, but just see what he was capable of.

Ryder returned his Swinub and Shieldon to their pokeballs, and then sat on a nearby rock and waited for Eevee.

He closed his eyes, and could hear the pokemon rustling through the trees, and the bird pokemon calling.

Suddenly the image of a deep red eye invaded Ryder's mind, sending chills up his spine, followed by a sharp stabbing pain in his skull.

He gripped his head, and opened his eyes, falling off the rock, and was once again, back to reality, and staring into the eyes of something small and blue.

Sitting on his chest was a small Swablu.

Ryder tiled his head, confused, then smiled, as the cute little bird pokemon copied his head movement.

Swablus were extremely rare in Cataria, and almost unheard of to find in Glacia, so having one on Ryder's chest really was a surprising sight.

Ryder slowly moved his hands behind his head so he could relax a little bit, and just watch the Swablu, as it cleaned its puffy cloud-like wings.

Ryder slowly reached for the little bird pokemon. He wanted to see if the wings really were like clouds, and suddenly in a blur of brown and white fur, the Swablu was tackled off of Ryder by his little Eevee.

Eevee pounced at the Swablu, with lightning speed, using a quick attack.

The Swablu, was knocked back, and stared at Eevee for a moment, before flapping its wings gracefully, and flying away.

Ryder stood up, and Eevee turned and rubbed against him.

"Wow", Ryder said, surprised. "You really are the jealous type".

Eevee looked at Ryder and barked softly, before running back to the tree line, and coming back with an Aspear berry, before returning and grabbing more.

Eevee had quickly found all three.

Ryder picked one up, and smiled as he noticed that there was a tiny bite mark in one of them.

"Did we get hungry little guy?" He asked.

Eevee jumped, trying to get the berry from Ryder, and was quickly returned to his pokeball, and hooked back onto Ryder's belt.

Ryder was happier now than when he woke up, but still couldn't shake the strange feeling that he got whenever he thought of the red eye.

Ryder walked back to his house, and saw his entire family sitting in the kitchen.

"Come sit," Ryder's mom said solemnly. "We need to have a talk".

Ryder was sceptical as he sat down next to the still teary eyed Amanda, but listened intently on what his father had to say.

Apparently, the collapse may not have been an accident. They found evidence of explosive material, and a strange amount of footprints in one of the abandoned and condemned mineshafts, where no one was supposed to even go.

That spiked Ryder's conspiracy interest, but the next part of the conversation killed his mood again.

After they cleared the rocks, they found that there wasn't much left of the miners, so instead of having a funeral with empty caskets, Brandon Saunders decided to hold a ceremony, where he would unveil a massive memorial for the lost miners. The ceremony would be tomorrow, so they must have been working nonstop to get the memorial built.

After they sat and talked for a few more minutes, Ryder decided that he wanted to go and heal his pokemon, then just lay down and relax.

As he got up from the table, his father looked to him. "Lizy came by a little while ago looking for you," he said. "I told her that you wanted to be alone for the next couple of days, but she seemed worried about you".

Ryder nodded, then walked upstairs.

The last thing Ryder wanted to think about now was Lizy and Anthony, and what was happening between them, he had enough on his plate.

As he reached his room, Ryder noticed an extremely old book, that was placed on his bed.

_I don't remember leaving a book on my bed this morning, _Ryder thought.

He walked over to it and picked it up.

The book was at least a hundred years old, with a brown leather cover, and yellowed pages.

Written in cursive writing in gold was the title: _The Book Of Legends: The stories and information on The Legendary Pokemon Of The World._

Ryder didn't own a book like this, so he became confused.

His parents didn't buy him books like this, because they thought that it would distract him from his work on the ranch.

Eventually, Ryder just put the book on the floor next to his bed, then plugged in his pokemon into the mobile pokemon centre, and went to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14: The Book

**Chapter Fourteen:**

When Ryder woke up, it was already the day of the ceremony. Apparently he had slept clean through the rest of the day, and solid through the night.

Ryder got out of bed, and showered, before heading back to his room, and grabbed a pair of black dress pants and a black collared dress shirt, so that he would look professional at the ceremony.

As he was about to walk out the door, suddenly he stopped.

For some reason, Ryder had this insane urge to bring this pokemon with him, but he could not have his pokeballs showing at the ceremony.

He unplugged his pokemon, and hooked them all onto his belt, including Swinub, and put the belt on, the pulling his shirt over it, to cover the belt.

Ryder walked out, closing his door behind him, and back downstairs, where the rest of the family will still be getting ready.

"Guys," Ryder said. "I'm going to head into town, and go for a walk".

Ryder walked out the front door, and to the road.

It looked like it was going to rain when he started walking towards the town. The sky was dark, and the air smelled like moisture, but Ryder didn't really care.

He made it about half way to the town, before noticing two figures, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, were following behind him.

Ryder turned, and saw two men, wearing long sleeve tight black shirts, that had a white tribal sun in the centre, and black pants.

Ryder turned back and picked up speed, but the men matched his speed.

Right before the edge of town, Ryder took a right turn, down a path into the forest, and came face to face with two more men.

Ryder turned to run but the two that were following him, had already closed off his escape route.

"Where is the book?" One of the men asked.

"You guys must have me confused for someone else," Ryder replied. "I don't know what book you're talking about".

The men all in sync, took another step towards Ryder, closing the gap between him and the men.

"We know the old man gave you the book"! One of the men yelled from behind Ryder.

"What old man?" Ryder yelled back.

Suddenly another man, dressed in the same clothing stepped forward. He was tall, in his early twenties, with dark blue hair. The tribal sun on his shirt was a deep blue, like his hair, instead of white, and he seemed to be the leader of them.

The men parted, as he stepped through and stood across from Ryder.

"The book we are looking for," the man said. "Guardian Aldine passed it on to you".

"Guardian Aldine?"

Ryder genuinely had no idea who these guys were, and what they were after, and who the hell was Guardian Aldine?

_Do they mean Aldine from the bookstore?_ Ryder thought. _He's in the hospital in Apollox, isn't he?_

"The book of Legends," the man with the blue sun said. "It's more than just an ordinary storybook, it's a map".

_The book in my room!_ Ryder realized. _Aldine must have put it there yesterday!_

"I Still have no idea what you're talking about," Ryder lied.

The man shook his head.

"I really hoped to avoid this," he said.

As if on cue, he and all of the other men, pulled out a pokeball, and threw them.

The men's pokemon were a Grimer, a Koffing, and two Golbats. The leader had a Sigilyph, a pokemon from Ryder's book, and he had never seen before.

From what Ryder knew, they were the guardians of an ancient city in the Unova region. This man must have travelled there for something, and brought this pokemon back with him.

Ryder reached under his shirt, and grabbed his Swinub and his Shieldon's pokeballs.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek from the trees, and a massive silver bird pokemon shot from out of sight, gripping a Golbat to the ground.

It was another pokemon that Ryder had never seen, a Skarmory.

A Growlithe came from the trees on the opposite side of the path, knocking the Koffing back, and into the Grimer.

Then from above, a massive Metagross landed on the Sigilyph, crushing it to the ground, and taking the second Golbat down with him.

The men jumped back in surprise, but the leader of the group looked around.

"Show yourselves!" He yelled.

From both sides of the path, Ryder saw three men emerge.

It was Xander, walking next to an extremely tall and muscular man, with dark skin, and black hair, whom Ryder didn't recognize, and Aldine, who calmly walked out from the opposite side of the path.

The leader of the group seemed surprised to see Aldine, who next to his frail image, seemed to be in perfect health.

"Aldine," the leader said. "You seem to be feeling better".

Aldine shrugged. "No thanks to you, Solstice".

"Well maybe next time we should plant some explosives under your bookstore, instead of sending some grunts to try and take down a Guardian Elder".

"One way or another, I would have escaped," Aldine said. "I always do".

The grunts were nervously looking between Xander and the other man, as they took up positions on either side of Aldine.

"I suggest you take your pokemon, and leave". Aldine said sternly, as he looked at the pokemon who were all pinned down.

Solstice nodded. "Return your pokemon," he said. "We're leaving".

Solstice and the grunts returned their trapped pokemon, and then took their leave, walking down the path, and then turning away from the town.

Xander returned his Growlithe, the man, his Skarmory, and then Aldine returned his Metagross.

Ryder didn't even know that Aldine had a pokemon, not to mention one as powerful as Metagross.

"Are you alright?" Xander asked as they walked up to him.

"What the hell was that!" Ryder yelled.

"Take it easy Ryder," Xander said softly.

"I'm sorry Ryder," Aldine said, stepping forward. "I didn't think that they would find the book as quickly as they did. I wanted to bring you into the loop before, so you had a chance to get yourself ready".

Ryder shook his head, then re attached his pokeballs onto his belt. "Get me ready for what?"

"To save the world," Aldine said.


	15. Chapter 15: Team Nova

**Chapter Fifteen:**

"They are called Team Nova," Aldine explained. "Their goal is to find legendary pokemon from around the world, and extract a DNA strand from one of them, and genetically engineer a completely new legendary pokemon, that could wipe out any foe, and any other legendary on earth, including Arceus. Much like what Team Rocket attempted when they created Mewtwo, twenty five years ago, or what Team Plasma did with creating Genesect ten years ago, but this new threat has the ability to actually complete its goals, if they can get their hands on a legendary pokemon".

"Well, what are they doing in Glacia?" Ryder asked. "There aren't any legendary pokemon here at all".

Xander shook his head. "That's not necessarily true Ryder".

"Every one hundred and fifty years," Aldine said. "Legendary pokemon from all over the world, come to lay a single egg, or to create an heir, if you will, here in Cataria. From what we have heard from a colleague from Apollox, professor Arian, there may be one, roosting in the nearby forests, or even the Frozen Spire".

_ Professor Arian,_ Ryder thought. _That's the man who professor Diotte called after we saw the massive bird pokemon! These guys seem to have connections all over the world..._

"Who are you guys?" Ryder asked.

"This is Cole," Aldine said, pointing to the massive man, who still hadn't said a word.

"Him and I are a part of a secret organization, known as the Guardians, set up by the Catarian government, but we are recognized all over the world, we are the ones who protect the secrets of the legendary pokemon, and keep them hidden from people like Solstice, and Team Nova, and protect the pokemon with our lives if we must," Aldine continued. "Xander is one of our newest prospects, and well on his way to completing his training".

"Alright, that's great and all, but how do I fit into your plan?" Ryder asked.

Xander spoke now. "Your uncle, along with my father, were both members of the Guardians, sent here to protect the town and the Frozen Spire, in the event that a legendary pokemon did choose this place as a nesting ground".

That proved that Ryder's theory of Max and Brandon was correct, there really was something going on, but he never would have thought that it was linked to a worldwide organization.

"You have an extraordinary ability to communicate with pokemon, and battle with them, and we were hoping that we could recruit you".

Ryder shook his head. "Right now I have things to deal with on my own," Ryder began to walk back down the road. "Oh and thanks for the help"!

Ryder walked into town, and down the road towards the mine.

Most of the streets were already in the process of being rebuilt, and as Ryder walked past the spot where Aldine's store used to be, a large, already completed house stood in its place, it had literally been built overnight.

_These Guardians must really have deep pockets,_ He thought, as he continued to walk.

He reached the spot where the ceremony was to be held, but the hundreds of people who had attended, were already leaving. Ryder had missed the ceremony.

At the gate to the mine, there was now a massive marble monolith, with the names, of the miners, and their pokemon, that had lost their lives in the collapse.

Ryder walked through the crowds, and up to the massive monolith.

As he read the names, he began to feel a connection to each of the miners and lost pokemon.

Ryder stood in silence, with his head bowed and eyes closed, as he mourned his lost uncle and the other miners, before the rain began to pour down out of nowhere.

It was a cold, powerful rain, and sent Ryder running back through the streets, trying to find cover.

As he ran, something silver scurry through one of the alleys to Ryder's right.

The way it was moving, very low, but fast, and peaked Ryder's curiosity.

Ryder silently moved down the alley, his footsteps muted by the pounding rain, and stopped at the corner, leaning against the red bricked building, thinking about what he saw.

From the brief glimpse he saw of the pokemon, but he thought it was a steel type, due to the colour, but not one that he recognized.

Ryder crept around the corner, and saw the back door of the building was open, and the lock was broken off, as if someone had forced it.

Ryder slowly stepped through the door, and into the dark room.

It was an old grocery store, that had been abandoned for a couple of years, all that was left was the empty steel shelves, and the glass pane of a large window, that displayed the inside of the store to the main road.

As soon as Ryder stepped through the door, something slammed into his chest, knocking him to ground.

Ryder landed hard on his back, with a heavy pressure on his chest.

As he got his bearings back, Ryder's eyes focused and he saw a pair of massive steel, silver jaws.

On Ryder's chest was a Durant, a pokemon that only live naturally on a chain of islands on the southern Ocean.

The mandibles opened wide, trying to crush Ryder's skull, and Ryder ducked around it, trying to get free.

Ryder's hands were pinned to his sides, and as the pokemon continued to try and bite him, he could feel that one of his hands was able to touch the pokeballs on his belt.

Ryder chose an opportune moment, as the Durant tried once again to go for Ryder's face, and he heaved with all his might, throwing the Durant off balance, and grabbing the first pokeball he could reach, hitting the centre button, and rolling it on the ground.

Shieldon was released from the pokeball, and as soon as he noticed that his trainer was in trouble, and his head began to glow white, in a flash of a second, Shieldon smashed its thick skull against Durant, with an Iron Head attack, slamming Durant back, against one of the steel shelves, toppling it, in a loud crash.

Shieldon wasn't Ryder's first choice of a pokemon, because Swinub would have been much more effective, and Ryder could have put the pokemon down much quicker.

But Ryder had no time to switch his pokemon out, as the Durant, quickly got to its feet, and raced back over to Shieldon, and using agility to speed around him, before clamping down hard on Shieldon's thick skull plate with Vicegrip.

Ryder got back to his feet again.

"Shieldon!" He yelled. "Shake him off, and tackle it back"!

Shieldon shook violently jarring loose the Durant, then tackling it again, knocking it back only a few feet.

Shieldon's attacks weren't very effective.

As powerful of a defence as Shieldon had, the Durant was too quick, using Agility to get behind the slower Shieldon, and then hitting it with Bite, Crunch, and Vicegrip.

Shieldon was getting weaker and weaker, as the Durant kept on biting, and Ryder prepared his pokeball, ready to bring Shieldon back, and make a dash out the door, and to the main road.

Shieldon was suddenly extremely enraged, and turned on the Durant, opening its mouth wide.

The Durant, thinking it defiantly had won, stopped, staring at the shaky Shieldon.

"Shieldon," Ryder said. "What are you doing"?

"DON!" Shieldon roared.

From Shieldon's mouth a long stream of fire burst out, engulfing the Durant in flames, sending it screeching for cover.

Shieldon had used Flamethrower!

As if the attack wasn't enough, Shieldon's entire body began to glow white, and in the blink of an eye, the small Shieldon, had evolved, and now standing before Ryder was powerful, and extremely angry Bastiodon!

Ryder's eyes went wide, and he gawked at his new, and powerful pokemon.

Ryder had only personally seen Swinub evolve into Piloswine, on the ranch, and was there when Flareon had evolved from an Eevee, but it was so surprising to see a pokemon, that Ryder had just gotten, evolve right in the middle of a battle.

As the Durant hid, weak and injured, Bastiodon stomped the ground with his front left foot, over and over, waiting for the Durant to make a move.

Finally, the Durant burst from cover, behind one of the steel shelves, using its Agility to try and get a fast attack in.

Bastiodon stood his ground, waiting, while the Durant closed the gap quickly.

As soon as Durant was within range, Bastiodon's skull plate turned a glowing white, and he charged forward, smashing full force into Durant, with his massive weight, with a powerful Iron head attack, that sent the Durant flying.

Durant smashed through the store window, sending it, and glass shooting onto the main street.

It tried its best to stand, but in the end, Durant collapse, fainting from the massive attack.

Bastiodon turned and faced Ryder, bowing his head to his trainer in respect.

Ryder stared at his new pokemon for a moment, before returning him to his pokeball, clipping it back onto the belt, and walking through the shattered window, towards the Durant.

People gathered from the streets, ignoring the pouring rain, and trying to catch a glimpse at the fainted pokemon, or who had defeated it.

Suddenly, from an alley across the street, a small, red laser shot from the darkness, and hit the Durant, pulling it back into its pokeball.

Ryder saw the light, and raced towards the alley, but saw no one, just the empty alley, and the brick wall that blocked any escape, but there was nobody there.

Ryder stared for a moment, then walked back to the street, and waiting for the Glacia police to arrive, before giving them a statement.

They told Ryder that it must have been someone's exotic pet Durant that Ryder had been attacked by, and that it had gotten away, before Ryder was able to get out of the abandoned store.

Even after Ryder tried to argue, the police stuck with their story, and then abruptly left the scene.

Ryder shook his head, and walked away.

_Whoever had attacked me must have as deep of pockets as the Guardians do..._ Ryder thought. _I wonder if it was Team Nova?_

Ryder walked back home through the rain, as the sun set, and then quickly sneaking up to his room, so that he wouldn't have to explain where he had been to his parents.

Ryder plugged his pokeballs into the mobile pokemon centre, and then changed the bandages on his quickly healing Absol wound, before laying down in his bed.

All of his joints and muscles were hurting from the Durant attack, and he was extremely tired, so it was no time at all before he closed his eyes, and went to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16: To the Spire!

**Chapter Sixteen:**

When he awoke, Ryder decided that it was time to see what all the fuss about the book was about.

He leaned over the side of his bed, and pulled the book out.

As he opened to the first page, Ryder saw a table of contents, that named off every legendary pokemon, from Arceus, to Zekrom. As Ryder looked up and down the page, he ruled out any of the legendaries, who wouldn't be able to make Glacia, and the surrounding area their nesting grounds.

In the end, the only three suitors that would fit in Glacia, were Articuno, Regice, and Kyurem.

Ryder opened the book, and flipped to the Regice page.

The book showed every little detail known about each legendary pokemon, from where it lives in its normal regions, to what it eats. At the bottom of each page, there was a small map of Cataria, with a small black dot, indicating where the legendary would nest in Cataria.

As Ryder looked at Regice, he read the description, and then checked the map.

Regice, resides in an underwater cave, along with the other Legendary Golems, on the far side of the Swamplands, to the southwest.

_It can't be Regice, it's too far away._ Ryder thought.

He flipped through the pages, until he found Kyurem.

Kyurem didn't match up either, because it and the other Tao trio pokemon, were nomadic, never coming back to the same place twice, and wherever Kyurem goes, if it's too close to a city, the city will become cloaked in ice.

_That just leaves..._ Ryder thought, madly flipping back to the front of the book.

Articuno, one of the three legendary birds,.

When Ryder reached the page, he stopped to read the description:

_Articuno, is a legendary bird pokemon, that can control ice. It can free moisture in the air to create a blizzard at will._

Ryder looked at the map at the bottom of the page, and his eyes went wide.

Articuno's nesting place was in fact on top of the Frozen Spire!

Ryder knew right then and there, that he needed to get to the Frozen Spire, before Team Nova did.

Ryder quickly got dressed and started packing. He grabbed the warmest clothes that he could find, sneaking downstairs, and getting some canned food, matches, a small oil lantern, wineskins filled with hot water from the kitchen, enough pokechow to feed his pokemon for a week, four wooden bowls, a cast iron pot for cooking, and boiling water, and a deep freeze sleeping bag and packed them all into a black backpack.

He then packed the book in on top, to use as a reference for getting to the Spire, and unplugged his pokemon from the mobile pokemon centre, and hooked them onto his belt, that sat on the edge of his bed.

Ryder quickly ran downstairs, and had breakfast with his family.

"Well you seem like you're in a hurry this morning!" Ryder's mom commented. She seemed to be in a bit of better spirits, after the ceremony the night before, but Ryder could still tell that she was trying very hard to put on a smile for the family.

"Ryder guess what!" Amanda squealed.

"What's up Mandy?" Ryder asked.

"I get to take care of Uncle Max's Diglett while he's gone away"!

Ryder flinched.

_So they didn't end up telling Amanda what had happened, _he thought. _I guess that it's kind of for the best._

Ryder cracked a weak smile.

"That's awesome Mandy!" He said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Make sure you take good care of him".

Amanda nodded frantically, then ran out the door, probably to play with her pokemon.

Ryder looked at his father.

John looked sick. He was pale, as white as a ghost, with sunken eyes, that had dark circles around them, and from what Ryder could see, he had lost a lot of weight.

"Dad is everything alright?" Ryder asked.

John nodded but didn't say anything, but as he took a drink from his mug, Ryder could see his hands shaking, as if he was having trouble lifting it.

"Dad, I'm going out for a couple of days," Ryder said.

John was just staring at the table.

Ryder shook his head and stood up, ran back upstairs and grabbed his bag, and putting on his pokebelt, before heading downstairs again, and walking out the door, towards town.

As Ryder walked, he saw an unusual amount of police on the streets, and it seemed like they were looking for something.

Every time Ryder walked by a police officer, they would stop and stare at him, as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Ryder walked faster down the road, and did not slow down until he was back on the main street.

Ryder walked slower, starting to relax a bit as he moved along.

He paused for a moment as he walked past the empty store, where he battled yesterday.

The window was still shattered, but the broken glass that had littered the road was gone.

Ryder shook his head, thinking back to how the police had made up some stupid story about the Durant attack, and how they wouldn't even listen to Ryder's side of the story.

He continued to walk until he reached The Spheal Inn.

It was an old wooden building, that had stood since Glacia was first founded, almost two hundred years before.

Right as Ryder was about to walk through the door, he shouting from the side of the building, and he recognized Lizy's voice.

Ryder ran around the building, and saw Anthony, yelling at Lizy, who had her back to the wall.

"You don't get to choose when this ends!" Anthony yelled.

Lizy was crying, and Spook was nowhere in sight.

"Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean that this is over"!

Lizy shook her head.

"That's not it!" Lizy yelled.

"Then what?!" Anthony shouted. "Is it that loser Ryder"?

Lizy bowed her head, still crying.

Ryder shook his head, and bolted towards them.

Anthony raised his right hand to smack Lizy, and right as his hand came down, Ryder caught Anthony's wrist.

Both Anthony and Lizy went wide eyed, not expecting Ryder to be there, and Ryder twisted his wrist, spinning Anthony backwards.

"You need to learn some manners there buddy," Ryder said, as he moved between Anthony and Lizy.

Anthony ripped two pokeballs from his pocket, and expanded them, one in each hand.

"Let's finish this," Ryder said, pulling two off of his belt, he decided he wouldn't carry Swinub on his chain while he was away, so that if something happened, he wouldn't lose it.

Anthony threw up his pokeballs, and after the lights cleared, Rampardos, and a Bonsly landed on the ground.

Rampardos lowered its head towards Ryder, ready to charge, and Bonsly hopped around anxiously.

"Let's see your puny Swinub defend against that!" Anthony shouted menacingly.

Ryder cracked a wicked smile, and re attached his Swinub onto the pokebelt.

Anthony's eyes narrowed as he waited for Ryder, not recognizing the Great ball that was held in his hand.

Ryder expanded the pokeball, and a moment later, threw it up in the air, revealing his powerhouse pokemon, Bastiodon.

Anthony's eyes went wide once again, and Bastiodon reared high on his two back legs, before slamming hard to the ground, making the buildings around them shake, and cracking the concrete under his feet.

The three pokemon squared off against each other, Bonsly hanging back a bit, as Rampardos cautiously stepped towards Bastiodon, so was standing frozen again, waiting.

The air was electrified with tension, as each trainer waited for the other to make a move.

Suddenly, Anthony was fed up.

"Rampardos!" He yelled. "Use-"

His sentence was cut off as Metagross suddenly dropped from the sky, slamming between Rampardos and Bastiodon, surprising both pokemon, and sending Rampardos running back to his trainer.

A moment later, Skarmory swooped down, and pinned Bonsly down, under its massive talon.

Ryder turned, and saw Aldine, and Cole, walking up behind him.

"Gentlemen," Aldine said calmly. "That's enough".

Anthony was flushed and angry.

"Let my pokemon go!" He shouted to Aldine. "I'll take on all three of you at once"!

Aldine smiled. "Metagross, use Hammer Arm".

Metagross shot forward, and smashed Rampardos, with its massive steel foot, sending it flying to the ground, and he instantly fainted.

"It's time for you to leave miner," Cole said. "The rest of your friends are already on the road, you should join them".

Anthony returned his pokemon, shamefully, and looked at both Ryder, and Lizy.

"This isn't over," he said. "Not by a long shot".

"Can't wait until we get to finish this, once and for all," Ryder replied.

Anthony walked past them, and down the road, quickly disappearing.

Ryder walked over to Lizy.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Lizy nodded.

"He seemed to think that we were actually dating, and when I tried to say differently... he snapped".

"So you two weren't together?"

She shook her head.

Ryder nodded, not sure if she was telling him the truth or not.

Suddenly Aldine spoke up.

"Mr. Reigns," he said. "Don't you have somewhere important that you need to be"?

Ryder suddenly remembered the Articuno, and looked back to Lizy.

"I'm leaving for a few days, but I'll be back soon, try to stay out of trouble kiddo".

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To the Frozen Spire," Ryder replied, and without giving her time to argue, or try and push a reason out of him, Ryder returned Bastiodon, and walked away, back down the main road, and towards the Frozen Spire, that loomed over the dense forest.


	17. Chapter 17: Frozen Journey

**Chapter Seventeen:**

When Ryder left the town, he waited until he was in the forest, walking along an old mining trail, before releasing his Bastiodon.

Bastiodon spun around looking in every direction for a fight, before turning, and staring at Ryder.

"Alright Bastiodon," Ryder said calmly. "We need to head to the Frozen Spire, would you mind giving me a lift"?

Bastiodon tilted his head at Ryder, seemingly insulted that a pokemon as powerful as him was going to be used as a mere pack mule, but after a brief moment, Bastiodon kneeled down, allowing Ryder to climb onto his back.

Ryder adjusted himself, until he was comfortable, sitting on Bastiodon's thick neck, right behind the skull plate, and relaxed.

"Alright Bastiodon!" Ryder yelled enthusiastically. "Let's go"!

Bastiodon stood back up, and began to jog his way towards the mountain, through the thick forest.

Ryder had never been to the Spire, and in truth he was extremely nervous to go.

The one place he never thought he would want to see, and the place where his grandfather had disappeared, and he was heading right towards it.

_Anything it'll take to save Cataria,_ Ryder thought to himself.

It was already mid day, by the time Ryder had left, so he knew that they wouldn't make it before the early night that fell over Glacia.

They continued towards the Spire, until the sun began to set, then Ryder told Bastiodon to walk off of the trails, and into the forest, where they could see the trail, but no one could see them.

He then dismounted from his pokemon, who laid down to rest, not bothered by the cold winds, that signified that they were getting close to the Northern Ocean, and the Spire.

The spot that Ryder had chosen was a small clearing, just big enough for all of Ryder's pokemon to lay comfortably alongside him, surrounded by the massive trees of the Glacian forest. There was frost on the ground, and Ryder could hear it crunching underneath the weight of Bastiodon getting comfy and snuggling beside him.

Ryder unpacked his sleeping back, and set it next to Bastiodon, who was already fast asleep, but also in the perfect position to block the wind, before lighting a small fire.

Most of the Ice pokemon that lived in the forests were afraid of fire, and would not come near it, but some like Snorunt, were curious, and attracted to the light of the fire, and it was only a few minutes, before Ryder could sense eyes on him, and saw some flash of orange and yellow through the trees, and a couple of pairs of small blue eyes.

Snorunts didn't like heat, and in the warmer months, they would usually hide out in the Frozen Spire, or the caves below, sometimes, they would even be found in the mines, in Glacia, just hiding amount the equipment, but for some reason, they were out still, as if pushed away from the Spire, and Ryder was sure that he knew the reason.

As Ryder fed the fire, he cooked some beans for himself, and heated up some pokechow for his pokemon, using a cast iron pot that he had brought along with him.

As soon as the pokechow was ready, Ryder released his other two pokemon from their pokeballs.

Swinub sniffed around on the ground, probably looking for mushrooms, or berries, until he caught the scent of the cooking pokechow, and he rushed over to the pot.

Ryder had to catch Swinub, mid air, as he tried to jump into the pot, while it was still on the fire.

"Easy there little guy," Ryder said smoothly. "You'll get some in a minute".

Swinub wriggled out of Ryder's arms and onto the ground, still eyeing the pot.

Eevee was walking around the edge of the clearing, keeping the harmless Snorunts at bay, and making sure that they didn't steal any of the food.

As soon as the pokechow was ready, Ryder called his pokemon over, Swinub already at the pot, Eevee sprinting from the edge of the clearing, and Bastiodon yawning, then lumbering over.

Ryder poured each pokemon a bowl, before getting his own dinner, and they all sat around the fire, eating.

As they sat, Ryder watched each one of his pokemon as they ate, thinking.

_Lizy has Spook and Snowy so far,_ Ryder thought. _Maybe I should give my pokemon a name too.._

Ryder first looked at Eevee.

"Hey little guy, I'm sure you'll be jealous of this, but I don't want to name you, until we choose an evolution for you," he said.

Eevee looked up from his dinner, and tilted his head at Ryder.

"Bastiodon," Ryder said.

Bastiodon looked up from his bowl.

Bastiodon was all power, and was extremely easy to anger, which only made him more dangerous in a battle, and he was the strongest defensive pokemon on the team.

Suddenly he thought of the perfect name.

"I think I'm going to call you..." He paused for effect, as Bastiodon eyed him, waiting. "Mace".

Bastiodon, stomped his left foot on the ground.

"Bast!" he said. Apparently Mace thought that was a good pick.

Ryder looked at Swinub, who had completely emptied his bowl already, and had flipped it over onto his head.

Ryder laughed.

Ryder had been with Swinub, since he hatched, and Ryder was a kid, and even after they had been companions for so long, Ryder couldn't think of a name that would fit Swinub.

"You don't need a name, mister," Ryder said. "You're already unique enough".

Ryder of course was referring to the white fur that Swinub had.

After they finished their dinner, Ryder cleaned out the bowls with some frost and snow from the trees around the clearing, and then he laid back down in his sleeping bag next to the fire, with Mace blocking the wind, and his other two pokemon on either side of him, keeping him warm.

Ryder listened to the sounds of the ice pokemon in the distance.

Every time that a close pokemon call would ring out too close for comfort, Eevee would tense up, sniffing the air around them, until he deemed it safe to go back to sleep.

Right as Ryder was about to close his eyes, he saw a small Snorunt run across the clearing, stopping for a moment, and then noticing that it was being watched, and running back to the forest.

Ryder smiled to himself and fell into a nice, relaxed sleep.

The next morning, Ryder packed up all of his gear, and returned Swinub, and Eevee, before putting out the fire, and hopping back on Mace.

"Alright Mace," Ryder said. "We're off"!

As Mace trotted along the trail, Ryder saw all kinds of pokemon footprints, but the strange thing was, they all led in the opposite direction that Ryder was headed in.

Mace seemed a little bit nervous, the closer they got, often slowing down, as if he was expecting something to be right behind a tree.

Ryder tried comforting him, telling Mace that everything would be alright, but his pokemon was still anxious.

Soon, the forest disappeared behind them, and the massive frozen mountain loomed in front of them.

Ryder could see Cryogonal flying in and out of caves, along with the occasional Glalie, but other than that, Ryder saw no pokemon.

Ahead of Ryder, there was a cave entrance, and carved markings into the side of the mountain.

_This must be the way to the peak,_ he thought.

Suddenly, from above him, Ryder heard the ear piercing shriek, that sent chills down his spine, and sending Mace rearing backwards, trying to see what it was.

Ryder looked up, and saw the massive blue shape flying overhead, not even half way up the Spire, before disappearing onto a plateau, leaving behind it a trail of fresh, falling snow.

Articuno.

Now that Ryder knew Articuno wasn't as high up as he thought it would be, the journey up the mountain would be easier, and he could focus on what he would do when he met the Articuno, or found the egg.

_Maybe it would understand me? _Ryder thought. _It could heed my warning and get away._

Ryder hopped off of Mace, and quickly returned him to his pokeball, hooking it onto his belt, before entering the dark cave.

It was time for Ryder to meet a true legendary pokemon, and begin the road to his destiny.


	18. Chapter 18: Articuno

**Chapter Eighteen:**

The cave was damp, and the air inside was frozen as Ryder walked through. It should have been pitch dark inside, but the walls were lined with small, glowing blue gems, that emitted their own light, giving the cave a ghostly hue.

Ryder kept his left hand on his pokebelt, right on Swinub, as he saw the Golbats hanging from the cave ceiling.

As Ryder got further and further inside, he began to notice the air getting colder, and he began to shiver uncontrollably.

Ryder could tell he must be near the plateau. He had lived in the frozen north his entire life, but never felt a cold like this.

Soon Ryder came to a halt, at a massive archway made of solid ice. It had to be at least twenty feet high, coming together at a sharp point. He could see the canopy of the forest through the arch, and even the town beyond that.

_This must be the plateau, _Ryder thought.

He took a deep breath., and walked through the archway, and onto the plateau.

The wind was soft, but still felt like it was ripping into Ryder as he reached the open air.

The plateau was covered in a thick sheet of ice, making it extremely slippery, and hard for Ryder to stand, and keep his balance.

As Ryder looked around, he didn't see the Articuno on the plateau at all, but instead, Ryder saw a nest, mound of twigs and dead leaves, and on top of that, a deep blue egg, the size of Ryder's head.

His eyes bulged as he realized what he was looking at.

The egg of a true legendary bird.

Ryder cautiously began to step towards the egg.

The deep blue was virtually everywhere on the egg, except for ice blue veins that ran across it, and a fresh blanket of snow.

Suddenly, Ryder wasn't cold anymore. His body had gotten a warm, numb feeling, and he couldn't help but begin to feel drawn to the egg.

Ryder felt as if he was no longer in control of his body, as he got closer and closer to the egg.

His arm reached out, and he touched the egg with his bare hand.

From out of nowhere, there was a massive gust of wind, and Ryder was thrown back, and smashed against the wall next to the cave entrance.

Ryder looked up, and saw the Articuno, landing at the edge of the plateau, wings spread defensively, and staring directly at Ryder.

Ryder stayed frozen for a moment, before slowly rising to his feet.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said.

Articuno shrieked and lowered its head, not believing him. Ryder could feel the fear emanating from the legend.

"I'm here to warn you".

Articuno's wings folded to its sides, and it tilted its head, apparently intrigued.

"Team Nova is on their way here right now, if they aren't here already," Ryder continued. "I'm not sure if you can understand me or not, but they are bad people, they want to capture you, or steal the egg and do experiments so that they can control the world, and destroy the other legendary pokemon!"

Ryder was becoming more frantic as the Articuno stared at him.

"You need to take your egg and leave now"!

That's when an explosion shook the mountain.

Ryder lost his balance on the ice, and had to grab onto the side of the mountain to stop himself from falling.

Articuno shrieked in surprise and flapped its wings violently.

"They're here!" Ryder yelled.

From the darkness of the cave, a Koffing shot forward, poison gasses spraying in all directions.

Articuno launched a powerful Ice Beam attack, scoring a direct hit on the Koffing and sending it reeling back into the cave.

Ryder could hear voices, and shouting from the cave. It sounded like there were dozens of trainers in the darkness.

Ryder tore all of his pokeballs from his belt and threw them up into the air.

Swinub, Eevee and Mace were released, the first two landing softly on the plateau, while Mace shattered the ice where he landed.

"Alright guys!" Ryder shouted. "Defend that Articuno, and its egg"!

Two Golbats and another Koffing appeared from the darkness, racing towards them.

"Swinub! Use Icy Wind to throw them off balance!" Ryder yelled. "Eevee! Take the Koffing in the centre with a Quick Attack!, and Mace! Knock the Golbats out of the sky with Rock Throw"!

The plan was executed perfectly, and before the opponents could make their moves, all three were knocked back into the cave, all knocked out.

More pokemon continued to flood through, and Ryder's pokemon continued to knock them down.

Suddenly something pulled Ryder from behind, and he wheeled around.

Articuno was standing right behind him, and in its talons, was the egg.

It gently placed the egg down on the frozen plateau, and nudged it towards Ryder with its beak.

"Do you want me to take your egg?" He asked.

Articuno make a soft sound, almost like a cat purring.

Ryder slowly reached down, watching Articuno, and making sure that he didn't misinterpret its message, before standing back up, pulling his bag off of his back, pouring out all of its contents, and carefully sliding the egg in, before zipping it back up and putting it on his back once again.

Articuno lowered its head for a moment, before darting forward, wings spread, and joining the battle.

Eevee was one on one with a Purrlion, biting and scratching each other, trying to win with their speed.

Swinub was knocking down Zubats and Golbats, with almost no difficulty, using his Icy Wind and Powder Snow, while Mace was in the middle of a head to head clash with two Rhyhorns. They were both pushing their horns against the Bastiodon's skull plate, but Mace was still pushing forward, backing them against a wall.

The plateau suddenly grew dark, and a strange hue of purple fell over the area.

Ryder looked around, confused and worried about what this was, and what he saw, made him almost fall over again.

Absol was standing next to Articuno, its normally red eyes, an eerie shade of purple.

All at once, psychic blades shot from Absol's horn, hitting and knocking out all of Team Nova's pokemon.

Ryder was astounded by the Pokémon's power, but had no time to truly appreciate it, as the fainted pokemon were returned, their trainers still hiding in the cave.

Ryder prepared for the next wave, but grew uneasy when he heard nothing but silence.

_Ryder,_ A voice invaded Ryder's head, and he recognized it as Absol's telepathy. _You need to leave now, something very bad is about to happen._

"What do you mean-"

Ryder's words were cut off as two Voltorbs, and an Electrode rolled out from the cave and onto the plateau.

Everything became extremely slow, as Ryder returned his pokemon to their pokeballs, and ran for the edge of the plateau, and the electric pokemon began to glow.

Ryder reached the edge, just in time for the pokemon to self destruct, sending a huge explosion out, and the shockwave towards Ryder.

Ryder was hit from behind, by the incredible force of the shockwave, and off the side of the plateau, plummeting towards the base of the mountain.

As he fell, chunks of earth raced past him, and he was flipped over, now facing the crumbling side of the mountain, covered by a vast plume of smoke, and roaring fire.

Ryder closed his eyes, and right as he was about to hit the ground, he abruptly stopped.

He opened his eyes again, and saw Absol, eyes purple again, already at the base of the mountain, using some sort of psychic ability to break Ryder's fall.

Ryder was only about a foot above the ground, so the drop was easy enough, and as he stood up, a large blue feather floated in front of him.

He reached out and caught it, mid air.

As the feather touched Ryder's hand, it disintegrated, into white, soft, and cold snow, before falling through his fingers, and onto the ground.

"The Articuno didn't make it off of the plateau did it?" Ryder asked, as he turned to look at Absol.

The pokemon shook its head. _It knew its time had come, so Articuno entrusted the egg to you Ryder, a Guardian._

"But I'm not a Guardian!" Ryder argued.

_Not yet. _

Suddenly Absol stiffened, and turned towards the mountain entrance.

_They're coming! _Absol shouted in Ryder's head. _I can hold them off, you need to get that egg to safety!_

Ryder nodded.

"Thank you," he said softly.

The Absol turned and nodded to Ryder, and then faced the cave again, right as the first Nova grunts came running out.

Ryder turned and ran as fast as he could, through the forest, and back towards town.

While he ran, the sun had begun to set once again.

They must have been battling in that mountain for at least an hour, and traveling up it took him most of the day.

Normally Ryder wouldn't even consider travelling through the forest at night, due to the massive possibility of getting lost, and the dangers of the pokemon, but tonight, he had no time to stop, and a voice in his head seemed to be guiding him towards safety.

As he continued to run, he was about three quarters of the way to town, and then sun had completely set, and he was running in complete darkness, not even the moon was out to give him some light.

Ryder looked back, and saw lights in the distance, trying to follow him, and that's when he slammed, mid sprint into something, knocking the wind out of him, and making him collapse.

Ryder rolled around for a second, before rolling onto his back, and looking directly at the shadowy figure that he had slamming into.

Ryder caught his breath, and prepared for the worst.

The figure reached down, as Ryder braced himself, and grabbed a hold of the collar on his jacket, pulling him up, and face to face with the figure.

Ryder gasped, and felt a massive sigh of relief when he saw who it was.

Ryder had run full tilt into Cole.


	19. Chapter 19: The Safe House

**Chapter Nineteen:**

Cole grabbed Ryder by his jacket collar, and pulled him off of the trail, and into the darkness of the forest.

They crouched in the brush, and waited, watching as the Team Nova grunts ran past, trying to catch up to Ryder, and the egg.

Cole said nothing, as they waited, and Ryder had wondered how Cole knew where to find him.

The trainers waited in the bush for what seemed like a lifetime, then finally, Cole stood up, and moved back onto the trail, watching in both directions before nodding to Ryder, signalling that it was safe.

Ryder silently moved from the bushes, trying as hard as he could, not to make any noise, or do anything that could alert anyone, or anything other than Cole.

"How did you find me?" Ryder asked, as he stepped up next to Cole.

Cole was still watching the trail, and wouldn't reply.

Cole was strange, to say the least. He barely spoke, and whenever he did, they were in short bursts, just trying to get his point across, before becoming silent again.

"We need to get back to the safe house," Cole said calmly.

He reached to a silver pokebelt, and pulled out a pokeball.

When he pressed the button, Ryder was shocked to see that virtually no light came from the ball, but Skarmory was still released.

Cole climbed onto his pokemon, and then looked at Ryder, as if expecting him to do the same.

Ryder climbed on, behind Cole, and was slightly surprised that the skinny bird pokemon didn't even flinch under the weight of Ryder, and the massive muscle of Cole.

"Where is the safe house?" Ryder asked.

Of course, Cole didn't answer, but instead told his Skarmory to fly.

The pokemon shot up into the air, high above the trees, and then soared towards the town.

Ryder had never been on a flying pokemon before, or anything that could fly, and the feeling was exhilarating.

He watched the ground, looking at all of the trees, and occasionally a few stray ice pokemon.

As they flew, Ryder saw a pack of Glaceons, with a couple of Eevees in toe, thinning a herd of Stantler, through a clearing.

Right as the Glaceons had surrounded a singled out Stantler, a large buck, the clearing was lost from view, and they reached town.

As they hovered over the main road, Skarmory dropped to the ground, and the two trainers climbed off, Cole promptly returning his pokemon.

Ryder looked around, and recognized the house that had replaced Aldine's book store.

_Wow, _Ryder thought. _This is the safe house? A bit obvious isn't it?_

Cole walked towards the house, Ryder quickly following, and knocked on the dark, wooden door, using some sort of code knock, that Ryder couldn't follow.

After a moment, there was a click from the other side of the door, and Cole turned the handle, opening it and walking inside.

As Ryder followed, he was astounded with the interior.

The main floor of the house was actually one open room, with maps covering each wall, each one of another region.

The map of Cataria was on the wall directly across from them, and had pins dotting different areas.

The floor was littered with papers, and the only pieces of furniture was a large, oval redwood table, with four chairs.

In the far corner of the room, there was a staircase, that must lead to the bedrooms, and a washroom, if this place even had either.

Ryder watched as Cole walked over to the table and sat down on one of the chairs.

Soon, Aldine and Xander both descended from the stairs, and took a seat at the table, Aldine at the head of the table, and Xander across from Cole.

"Take a seat Ryder," Aldine said, motioning with one hand at the chair that was at the other end of the table.

Ryder quickly sat down.

"So what happened?" Xander asked.

Ryder explained everything that had happened at the Frozen Spire, from the Articuno, the Team Nova grunts, and the Absol, but he left out the part where he got the legendary egg, until he could see the reactions of the other three.

They all seemed sad about the loss of a legendary.

"Another beautiful pokemon made extinct from human interference," Aldine said. "This is exactly what we are trying to prevent."

Ryder decided that by their reaction to the loss of a legendary pokemon, that he should tell them the news.

Ryder took his bag off of his back, and then placed it on the table.

"Just before the explosion took out Articuno," Ryder said. "It gave me this".

The Guardians waiting in anticipation, with wide eyes, as Ryder unzipped his bag, and pulled the large egg out.

Aldine jumped up, knocking his chair to the floor, and jus jaw dropped.

"An Articuno egg!" He shouted. "This is wonderful news"!

Xander had a wide smile on his face.

"So the species is saved," Cole said, in his quiet tone. "It's a good thing I found you when I did".

That reminded Ryder.

"By the way," he said. "How exactly did you find me"?

Cole looked at Aldine, as if asking him for permission to explain.

Aldine stared into space for a minute, before nodded to himself.

"The are only three ways to become a Guardian," Aldine said. "The first is to be born into the Guardians, like Xander was".

"My ancestors were some of the founding fathers of the Guardians," Xander said.

"That automatically earns you a spot among us," Aldine continued. "The second is to have an extraordinary, natural gift, weather it'd be in pokemon combat, or another way, such as Cole here".

"I can sense where anyone is, at any given time," Cole said. "They say it is a part of my heritage, my grandfather's grandfather was a shaman for a tribe in the Swamplands to the West".

Ryder was surprised. He had heard of certain people having some sort of strange ability, but never thought he would actually get to meet one!

"And the last?" Ryder asked, trying to figure out where he fit in all of this.

"The last is to be marked by one of the guardian pokemon," Aldine continued. "There are only a few different species of pokemon who can defend a legendary, and keep them out of harm's way, and if you are marked by one, then you have been chosen".

"What are the guardian pokemon?" Ryder asked. He thought he knew what Aldine was about to say, but needed to actually hear it to believe it.

"There is Relicanth, an ancient fish pokemon, Froslass, an ice-ghost type, Golurk, a psychic -ground type, Elgyem, and Beheeyem, who are some sort of alien pokemon, and lastly..." he paused for a moment. "Absol".

A memory flooded into Ryder's head.

_ "Absols attacking a human, is extremely rare", the professor said. "In some Catarian cultures , they say that someone with the scar of an Absol is considered a great warrior, a chosen one."_

That's what professor Diotte had told Ryder, after he had first been attacked.

_I wonder if the professor knows about the Guardians,_ Ryder thought. _OR even, if he is one._

"So, Aldine," Ryder said. "Where do you fit in all of this"?

"I am a Guardian elder," he said. "I was chosen by my predecessors when I was born, to walk this path, and be one of the five advisors to Lord Grayson".

"Lord Grayson?"

"He is the leader of the Guardians," Xander said. "The one who has control over our organization, and the one who gave my father the mines".

Apparently the Guardians will grant their most decorated members high authority, or wealth, in exchange for their services and loyalty.

Ryder wasn't sure if he liked the idea of the Guardians using their influence to buy their way to higher positions within the governments and such, but at the same time, he admired their ways of giving rewards and showing appreciation for the trainers who would give their lives to defend Cataria, and the other regions.

"After I went back to Apollox," Aldine said. "I informed Lord Grayson of your unique talents, and the mark you wear on your chest, and he personally asked to have you at the academy, in the capital".

Ryder felt honoured, and surprised that the leader of a worldwide organization would want to meet him, but at the same time, his family, and Lizy crossed through his mind.

Could Ryder really leave Glacia behind, and go and become a Guardian? As much as Ryder wanted to leave, and see the world, the last few months had changed his whole life, and he thought that he couldn't really leave his family in such a time of need.

"What do you say Ryder?" Xander asked. "Do you want to come and train with us?"

Ryder's eyes dropped to the table, still debating.

Ryder shook his head.

"As honoured as I am about your boss requesting me personally," Ryder said. "I can't leave Glacia right now, not with everything that's happened".

Xander shook his head, and Cole stared off into space again, while Aldine looked disappointed.

"I understand where you are coming from Ryder," Aldine said quietly. "But are you sure that you want to pass this up? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you'll be missing out on".

Ryder nodded.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, it seemed that Aldine had just noticed the Articuno egg once more.

"This is a time for celebration gentlemen!" He shouted, standing up and clapping his hands together. "I'll be right back"!

He walked up the stairs for a moment, before quickly returning with a large bottle, and four small shot glasses.

As he sat back down, Xander's eyes seemed to brighten, and Cole took his gaze off of the wall he was staring at, to look at the bottle as well.

"This bottle of whiskey is over one hundred years old," Aldine said. "It comes from a place in the Sinnoh region, and from what I am told, it's amazingly smooth".

Ryder smiled, as Aldine popped open the whiskey, and poured each of the men at the table a glass, and then passing them about.

When they all had a glass, Aldine, still standing, raised his glass.

"To Ryder Reigns," he said. "The Guardian of the Ice!"

Aldine smiled, and sniggered. "Even if he doesn't know it yet".

Ryder rolled his eyes, but stood up in unison with Cole and Xander, to toast, before the four of them took their first, of many shots.

The taste was indescribable to Ryder, it burned his tongue, but felt so cool at the same time. It was smooth and harsh at the same time, and Ryder couldn't even begin to fathom what the taste itself was, only the fact that he could feel it instantly coursing through his entire body.

The four of them sat at the table, well into the night, sharing stories as they drank, and Xander finally explaining that he was always such a jerk to Ryder, because he was testing to see how Ryder would act under pressure, if he were to ever end up as a Guardian.

As strange of an apology as it may have been, the whiskey made him feel extremely happy, and forgiving, so he had no choice but to accept Xander's strange explanation.

As Ryder's eyes grew heavy, Aldine told him that there was already a room for Ryder, built when the house was put up, in the event that Ryder chose to become a Guardian, and that he could spend the night there.

They all went upstairs, and to their separate rooms, and the second that Ryder's head had hit the soft, feather pillow, he was out cold, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**Hey guys! so what do you think of the book so far? Write me a review with your opinions! Things are about to get real crazy around Glacia, and Ryder wont be there for much longer, so im going to need some new characters for the book! If youve already PMed me about it, please do it again, because my account got all messed up and i lost all of my messages, so send me some descriptions and stuff!  
**


	20. Chapter 20: A Deadly Late Night Visitor

**Chapter Twenty:**

It was still night when Ryder awoke.

His head was fuzzy, and he felt sick to his stomach.

Ryder figured that it must have been from the whiskey, and tried to roll over.

Suddenly he became really worried. He was extremely weak, and unable to move whatsoever.

Ryder attempted to shift his eyes around the room, to see if he could figure out what was happening, but all he could see was a pale purple flickering from one corner of the room.

As time passed, he began to feel weaker and weaker, until he was barely able to breathe.

Ryder had to muster up what little energy he had left, to barely udder a single word.

"Help," he said weakly, unsure if anyone heard him.

Sure enough, a moment later, Aldine stepped through the door, gasped, and then reached for a pokeball.

Ryder then knew that something was seriously wrong.

"Huntail, I choose you!"

A the ball lit up, but Ryder couldn't see Aldine's pokemon, who what they were after.

"Aquatail!"

There was a blue light, and suddenly a crash, glass breaking, and the purple flame was gone.

The draining feeling that Ryder had felt was gone now, but he was still extremely weak, unable to even sit himself up.

"Ryder are you alright?" Aldine said, returning his pokemon, and rushing to Ryder's side.

Ryder heard Cole and Xander burst through the doorway.

"What happened?" Xander shouted.

"Litwick," Aldine said. "Cole get to the Reigns' ranch, and make sure everything is clear out there, and Xander, get the Articuno egg to safety, contact the other Elders, and have them dispatch a dragon type to retrieve it".

Ryder heard Cole and Xander leave, and then the door open and shut, while Aldine was still in the room with him.

"Ryder, you've had your energy stolen by a Litwick," Aldine explained. "You will be weak for the next few hours, but by midday you should be alright. You're lucky I came in when I did, or else it may have been too late".

Ryder rolled around in his bed, already feeling some of his strength returning.

"My... family," Ryder whispered.

"Cole is on his way there right now, if there are any pokemon at the ranch, Cole will absolutely be able to handle them. He finished top of his class in combat at the academy".

Ryder nodded, then rolled onto his side. He needed to sleep, and regain his energy.

Aldine stood, watching him for a minute, before walking out, and down the stairs, probably to find out where the Litwick came from.

Ryder had a strange feeling that the pokemon came from Team Nova, and they were purposely sent after him.

Soon Ryder couldn't even think anymore, and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

**Hey guys, I know this was a very short chapter, but things are about to go insane around Glacia, youll see an entirely new side of Ryder Reigns very soon.**

**I cant believe that were already at almost 1000 views, I know for some thats no big deal, but for me its** awesome!  
**So where do we think the Litwick came from? What do you think is going to happen to Ryder?  
Post a review for your answers guys, and maybe ill give you a little spoiler... Or not ;)**


	21. Chapter 21: Tragedy Can Only Bring Hate

**Hey Guys! We just hit a thousand views! In celebration, here's an early chapter for ya! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty One:**

When Ryder woke up, it was around one in the afternoon.

He felt much better than the night before, but was still a little more tired than he should be, as he quickly got out of bed, and went downstairs.

Nobody was at the safe house, and the egg was gone. Ryder felt uneasy, as he walked outside, and into the light.

The main road was crowded, people going about their business, as usual.

Ryder smiled.

It seemed life was back to normal again, before all of the tragedy that had fallen onto Glacia.

Ryder felt stress free as he walked back towards the ranch, for once in the past few months, things began to look up, that was at least until he reached the ranch and saw what was outside.

Cole was standing in front of the house, with Aldine and Xander, and they were all talking with four police officers.

At the front porch of the house, Ryder saw Amanda and his mother, who was holding her. They were both pale as a ghost, and crying.

But there was one person who was missing from the group.

_Where's my father?_ Ryder asked himself.

The thought of what was actually happening didn't occur until he saw the pink and white shape of a Blissey stepping out of the house.

Blisseys were extremely expensive to get help from in Cataria, and only the wealthiest people and organizations in the region had access to them. They were only ever used for the most dire circumstances.

The Blissey strolled over to Aldine and said something before walking back inside, with Aldine quickly in toe.

Ryder couldn't stand by and watch anymore, he needed to know what was happening.

Like a bolt of lightning, Ryder sprinted down the road, and across the front yard, towards his house.

Cole saw him, and moved to intercept Ryder, but he ducked under Cole's arms, and darted into the house.

He saw no one on the main floor, and figured that his father must be upstairs, with Aldine and Blissey.

He crept up the stairs, and peered around the corner to his parent's room.

He saw Aldine, and Blissey standing in front of the bed, both with their backs facing him.

As Ryder walked into the room, he saw that neither of them had heard him.

"Aldine, what's going on?" Ryder asked.

Aldine spun around, noticing Ryder, and his eyes went wide.

As Ryder stepped up to the foot of the bed, he saw what he had feared from the moment he was born.

Ryder could see his father's silhouette, still and unmoving, but there was a white silk sheet covering him.

Ryder's mind was felt like it was hit by a freight train, as the final realization hit him.

His father was dead.

"Ryder.." Aldine started.

Ryder felt the rage building inside of him, like a powerful fire had just been lit at the very core of his soul, and he could feel his body going numb.

"Don't." Was Ryder's only reply.

He left the room, and tore his way downstairs, and outside, walking towards the forest once again.

"Ryder!"

He could hear Xander calling him to come back, and behind that, he could hear his mother sobbing.

He broke into the tree line, allowing the house to disappear from behind him.

Once he reached the clearing where he would train his pokemon, he tore Swinub and Mace from his pokebelt, and threw the pokeballs into the air.

Both pokemon were freed from their balls, and just stared at Ryder.

Swinub looked sad, and Mace just gave Ryder a stone cold look, like he was saying "Revenge".

"I will destroy them," Ryder said coldly. "I will make them all pay for what they did to our family"!

Mace bellowed in agreement, rearing back on his back legs, and Swinub snorted furiously, agreeing as well.

"Mace!" Ryder yelled. "Tear that tree down in one Body slam"!

Ryder was referring to the massive spruce tree, with the trunk as thick as his Bastiodon's skull plate.

Bastiodon leapt forward, and easily shattered the trunk of the tree, sending shards of wood in all directions, before the tree collapsed, its fall only being broken by another tree.

"Again Mace!" Ryder yelled.

Again and again Mace would smash down trees, creating an almost perfect wall around the clearing, with only one entrance.

Ryder could feel a presence behind him, and he turned around, and saw Xander standing at the entrance to Ryder's homemade arena.

"Listen Ryder," he said. "You need to calm down and come back to the safe house with me".

Ryder watched him, and saw Xander's hand nervously floating around his pokebelt.

"No," Ryder replied. "You need to tell me where Tem Nova is hiding".

Xander shook his head.

"I'm taking you back to Aldine whether you like it or not Ryder, you need to think about what you're going to do"!

"These people killed my uncle, and now my father, and you want me to calm down? I don't think so"!

Xander tore a pokeball from his belt, and threw it into the air.

Growlithe appeared in front of Ryder, crouched low and teeth bared.

Ryder didn't even have to say anything, for Swinub to bound over in front of Ryder.

Mace began to saunter over too, but Ryder returned him to his pokeball.

This was a battle that Ryder had waited a long time to have.

"Last chance Ryder," Xander said.

Ryder flashed a wicked smile, but said nothing.

"Growlithe use ember!"

A small stream of fire shot from Growlithe's mouth, heading straight for Swinub.

"Dodge it Swinub, and counter with a Tackle attack!" Ryder shouted.

Swinub launched into the air easily avoiding the ember, and slammed full force into Growlithe, knocking him backwards, skidding across the grass.

"Growlithe!" Xander yelled. "Use Bite"!

"Swinub use Mist to blind it!"

Swinub kicked up the mist, shrouding the clearing, and Growlithe began biting into the fog, blindly.

"Growlithe!" Xander shouted. He couldn't see either pokemon, or Ryder.

"Protect yourself with Flame Wheel"!

Ryder was impressed. Xander had taken an offensive attack, and turned it into a shield. It must be something that they taught him at the Academy.

Ryder could see the light from Growlithe's fire, centred in the Mist, but he still couldn't see his own Swinub.

"Swinub, wherever you are! Use Mud bomb on Growlithe and his fire"!

Ryder heard a yelp of pain, and the flames suddenly disappeared.

Ryder waited, as the mist dissipated, and he saw Swinub, standing in front of Growlithe, who was on the ground, and struggling to get to his feet.

"I bet you weren't expecting that, huh Xander," Ryder commented.

"Growlithe," Xander said. "Get up, we need to finish this"!

As Growlithe struggled, but got to his feet, both trainers knew that they had to finish this battle soon, to complete their own agendas.

Ryder wasn't going to allow Xander to stop him, and he knew he could finish this, if he got one more good attack in.

"Swinub!" He shouted. "Use-"

He was cut off, as suddenly, Growlithe leapt forward, the inside of his mouth flaming, and bit hard onto Swinub, making the little pig pokemon squeal in pain.

"Swinub"!

Ryder knew that if he didn't get the Growlithe off of Swinub, that he could lose the battle, or Swinub could be killed, if Growlithe had him by the right spot.

As Ryder began to run towards Swinub, the white pig began to glow, a hot and bright white.

Ryder and Xander were both blinded by the light, and Growlithe yelped in terror, releasing Swinub, and went running back to his trainer.

Ryder tried to watch, as his Swinub's shape began to twist and distort, before quickly shaping into something else.

In a moment, the light was gone, and in Swinub's place, there now stood a pure white, and battle ready Piloswine!

Ryder, even with his head filled with rage, couldn't help but smile.

Swinub had finally evolved. Granted it took destruction and death to bring him to that point, but Ryder didn't care.

Xander gawked at the sudden transformation, and Growlithe was still weak.

"Alright Piloswine!" Ryder shouted, his energy to battle completely restored. "Let's make quick work of this battle, use Mud Bomb to knock it down, and finish this with an Ice Fang"!

Piloswine charged forward, launching Mud Bomb, which easily took down the ground sensitive Growlithe, and then Piloswine's tusks turned into frozen ice, and slammed into Growlithe, sending him reeling back to Xander, knocked out.

Xander returned Growlithe to his pokeball, and then turned to grab another, but Ryder was too quick, and was already in front of his, knocking him to the ground with one quick push.

"Where is Team Nova," Ryder asked, impatiently.

"I can't tell you," Xander managed to stutter.

"Piloswine, let's 'convince' our friend Xander here to tell us".

Piloswine, ever loyal, walked over to Xander, and placed his tusks on Xander's throat.

"Last chance Xander," Ryder said. "Or I swear I'll tear this town apart trying to find them".

Xander looked terrified, but finally gave in.

"Team Nova is hiding in the abandoned water treatment facility near my father's mine," he said, looking down in defeat.

"How many?" Ryder demanded.

"About twenty, including the executive, Solstice".

Ryder nodded to Piloswine, who backed off.

"Thank you for the assistance Xander," Ryder said.

He then quickly lifted a steel-toed boot, and crashed it down on Xander's chest, knocking the wind out of the injured Guardian, and making him black out.

"Sorry buddy, I can't have you running back to Aldine and telling him what I'm about to do".

As Ryder walked away, returning his new Piloswine, and froze.

_What the hell is happening to me?_ He wondered to himself. _This has to be done, before I can deal with my own issues._

Ryder snuck around into town, and began the quick walk down the strip, and towards the closed mine.

The streets were now empty, and the sky was dark with clouds as he walked with malicious purpose.

Right where the entrance to the mine was, Ryder took a left instead of going straight, and saw the one story water treatment facility, and all its solid steel siding standing before him.

The building was built to withstand any ice pokemon from getting inside, but a few years ago, it had closed down, and was abandoned after a newer and more efficient facility was built right on the Northern Ocean.

Ryder stood there, facing the thick, solid steel door, before pulling his pokeballs out and releasing Mace, and Piloswine.

The Bastiodon turned and looked at Ryder, waiting for instructions, while Piloswine stared at the door, already knowing what was about to happen.

Ryder took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

He felt the world around him slow, much like it did at the top of the Spire, as his eyes snapped back open again, and he gave the command.

"Mace!" He shouted, knowing that none of the grunts inside could hear him through the steel. "Use Iron Head on that door"!

Mace charged the door, his thick skull glowing silver again, and right before the massive Bastiodon made contact, Ryder said one word in his head.

_Revenge._


	22. Chapter 22: Revenge, And Pure Power

**Hey everyone! so here it is, we finally get to see a new side of Ryder, a dark and powerful side, thanks to everyone that has been reading, and the few that have showed their continued support, I hope to get more as were about to see the massive conclusion of Ryder's old life**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

The Team Nova grunts were completely oblivious, as to what was about to happen to them.

Three of the grunts sat around a wooden crate, playing a card game, while another was asleep in the corner.

The facility was dark and moldy, but it served its purpose as a hidden base of operations that they could use while hunting Articuno.

"When do you think Solstice and the others will be back?" A grunt asked his comrade as he dealt the cards.

The second Grunt just shrugged.

"They have a big job ahead of them," he said. "That kid is apparently quite the handful.."

The third snorted.

"I bet you if I got the chance, I could take that kid down with one pokemon".

The first grunt shook his head.

"I doubt it, did you see Howard's Durant?" He asked, motioning to the sleeping grunt. "Its permanently scarred from one battle with the kid".

"I'm telling you," The cocky grunt said loudly. "If that kid were to come walking through that door right now, I would put him, and his puny pokemon down single headedly"!

He motioned at the door, as if expecting Ryder to come strolling through, at the exact moment that the door was blasted off its hinges, and shot across the room, clipping one of the grunts, with a bone crunching thud, before slamming into the far wall.

Before any of them could reach for their pokeballs, a freezing cold Blizzard swarmed into the room, freezing the two remaining card players, in their seats.

Through the Blizzard, Ryder walked through the door, the snow seemingly warping around him, as Mace, and Piloswine, who was kicking up the freezing snow, followed.

The Grunt that was asleep in the corner was on his feet, and ran for an exit near where the wall had crashed, tossing a pokeball behind him.

The same Durant that Ryder had battled, was released.

The metal on the left side of its face was warped and melted, and its left pincer was completely gone.

Mace charged past Ryder, spotting its old enemy, and wanting a rematch.

The Durant recognized its foe, and let out a high pitched screech, tripping over itself, before turning and fleeing, jumping onto its trainer's back, knocking him to the ground, before disappearing around a corner.

The Grunt rolled onto his back, and was face to face with the massive Bastiodon, who looked ready to crush him with his massive skull-plate.

The Grunt went to scream for help, but suddenly the Blizzard had disappeared, and the pokemon were gone, returned to their pokeballs, leaving only the grunt, and Ryder.

"Where is Solstice," Ryder asked sternly.

"I won't tell you a thing!" The Grunt yelled defiantly.

Ryder chuckled and shook his head.

"You know, a Guardian told me the exact same thing, when I wanted to know where your group was hiding, and well... Here I am".

The Grunt swallowed and shook his head again.

"Alright then suit yourself," Ryder said, shrugging. "I guess I'll just have to make you look like your Durant".

He rolled a Great Ball through his fingers, before his thumb came to rest on the button, and the ball expanded.

"Fine!" The Grunt shrieked. "Solstice and the others went to a Piloswine ranch on the far side of the town"!

Ryder's eyes went wide.

"Why?!" He demanded.

"They were going to destroy you, and everything you've ever cared about".

Images flashed through Ryder's head.

He saw his father, Uncle Max, his mother, and Amanda. Finally, his mind rested on one image.

Elizabeth.

Ryder turned and walked back towards the door, throwing the Great Ball outside, releasing Bastiodon once again.

Right as he reached the doorframe, the Grunt yelled something to him.

"You'll never win!" he yelled. "There are too many of us, we WILL destroy you, and all of Cataria if we must"!

Ryder stopped for a moment, seeing smoke from the far side of the town, right where his ranch, and family would be.

Like burning magma, his rage erupted, turning the edges of his vision black, and making him lose control of himself.

"Mace," he said calmly. "Use Flamethrower through the door".

Without hesitation, the Bastiodon turned, and launched a long stream of fire through the open door, lighting everything flammable inside on fire.

As Ryder climbed onto Bastiodon, he could hear the Grunt screaming in pain, but without control of himself, he really didn't care anymore.

He was more focused on getting back to the ranch, and getting his revenge before anyone else he cared about was killed.

"Mace!" Ryder yelled. "Back to the ranch as fast as you can"!

Bastiodon took off down the road, barely missing the pedestrians who were flocking towards Ryder's house, looking to see what was going on.

The sun had begun to set again, as he reached the road that led to his house.

Or at least what was left of it.

His house, and the barn were engulfed in a purple flame, much like the one he saw at the safe house, and there were dozens of Litwicks, who were adding to the fire.

The Piloswine pens, thankfully were empty, but Ryder saw no sign of his family.

He dismounted Mace, saw, and assessed every face of every Team Nova member, fifteen Grunts.

They didn't concern him.

Ryder stood waiting on the road, unnoticed, until he saw his primary target.

Solstice, with his Sigilyph, flying to his right, and a Lampent, the evolved form of Litwick floating at his left, firing purple flames at anything that wasn't already burning.

Ryder focused in on Solstice, and was ready to strike with everything he had, until he was who was behind him.

Escorted by two Houndooms, was Elizabeth.

She looked terrified, and confused to say the least, but didn't look like they had hurt her.

Ryder knew right then and there, he had to make his move.

Right before he released his Piloswine to aid in the suicide mission, a beam of golden orange light pierced through the darkening skies, blasting four Litwicks, and vaporizing two Team Nova Grunts, before anyone, including Ryder, even knew what was happening.

The professor's Dragonite burst through the clouds, dive bombing towards the fire, and Ryder could see a small blur, the professor on its back.

Mace suddenly looked to Ryder, as if saying he needed to do something.

Ryder didn't say a word, but looked to his companion, and nodded.

Mace reared, in his trademark pose, before letting out a bellow of rage, that echoed throughout the entire forest, pulling Solstice's gaze away from the Dragonite, and directly at Ryder.

Mace took a bound forward, before a huge ball of pure white energy appeared in front of him, growing to the size of his skull-plate, before it launched at break-neck speed, soaring across the field, and scoring a direct hit on Solstice's Lampent, knocking it against a Nova Grunt, and sending them both flying into the forest behind them.

Mace had used, for the first time Ancient Power, an attack that most believed to have completely disappeared from the Cataria region, after the Mamoswine were wiped out.

Solstice's eyes were wide, and he seemed to be in shock, as some of the Grunts sent their Litwicks flying after Dragonite, who was much faster than they were, while others continued to burn everything in sight.

Ryder couldn't help but smile as he walked towards Solstice and the burning house, his rage making him feel numb, and invincible, as he released Piloswine, who was eager to battle.

His pokemon took up positions on each side of Ryder, as he continued across the field.

"Sigilyph!" Solstice yelled. "Use Psybeam on that trainer"!

The strange pokemon flew forward, between Ryder, and its trainer, and launched a rainbow coloured beam of psychic energy at Ryder.

"Mace, use Protect, and counter with Rock Throw!" Ryder shouted. "Piloswine! Blizzard"!

The Bastiodon darted at surprising speed in front of Ryder, the beam colliding with his skull-plate, before launching two rocks at the Sigilyph.

At the same time, Piloswine launched a powerful, and well controlled Blizzard, both attacks hitting their mark on the opponent, at the exact same time.

As the snow and dust cleared, Sigilyph was slammed into the ground, knocked out cold.

Ryder continued his advance, he looked to see how the professor was fairing against the Litwicks.

Amazingly, all of the Litwicks were gone, probably all beaten by the power of the dragon type, along with both Houndooms, which still lay fainted on the ground.

Ryder had just enough time to see Lizy climbing onto Dragonite's back, before Solstice gave a new order to his followers.

"Novas!" He yelled. "Kill the trainer and stop the Dragonite at all costs"!

Solstice reached to his belt, as the Novas released each, all of their pokemon, Some of which turned to attack the already airborne Dragonite, but most, were focusing in on Ryder, and his pokemon.

Solstice threw a pokeball, revealing a particularly angry looking Skorupi.

"Skorupi!" He yelled. "Use Venoshock on those pokemon"!

Ryder and his party were already being barraged by an array of attacks, of all types.

Ryder just had time to jump back, before a Thunderbolt, launched by one of the Nova's Magnemites, shot down right in front of him, threatening to kill him by electrocution.

Bastiodon was completely unaffected by the attack, while Piloswine was able to dodge it.

Ryder knew that he wasn't able to hold out much longer.

He looked to the sky, and saw Lizy, staring back at him, as Dragonite circled above.

_It's now, or never._ Ryder thought. _Let's finish this._

Ryder looked to his left, and to his right, at his two pokemon, who both signalled that they were ready for one final finishing display.

"Skorupi, Pin Missile on the boy!" Solstice screamed in frustration.

As Skorupi began to launch dozens of three inch, glowing needles towards him, and his party, Ryder decided it was his time to act.

"Mace, Piloswine!" Ryder yelled at the top of his lungs. "Both of you, use Earthquake NOW"!

Both pokemon reared on their back legs, and in unison, slammed into the ground, sending a massive shockwave, through the earth.

The ground seemed like it exploded all around the Reigns' ranch, as massive cracks opened everywhere, and chunks of rock and earth shot up, swallowing Nova grunts whole.

The Earthquake attack was so powerful, that it would later be found that it had been felt in every other region on the planet, causing panic and confusion, as professors, and scientists assumed that the only thing that powerful was a legendary pokemon.

Ryder could hear the screams of the Team Nova members in front of him, as the earth continued to be dishevelled, and also felt something else.

There was a searing pain in his right shoulder, and his left leg, and he looked down to see two Pin Missile needles, sticking deep into him.

Ryder pulled the one from his shoulder, and tossed it into a fissure in the ground, and straight at the screaming Executive, Solstice, just in time to see him, Skorupi, and his entire burning house, be swallowed up by the ground.

The earthquake stopped, and Ryder collapsed to one knee, his rage gone, and weak from the needles that had hit him.

He looked to his pokemon, who seemed just as exhausted as he was, and smiled, before returning them to their pokeballs, and hooking them onto his belt.

Ryder shook his head, trying to focus, and then attempted to stand up.

As he straightened himself out, he looked up at the sky again, and saw Dragonite, just a tiny dot in the sky, as they flew back towards Shadowvale.

He smiled, and turned to limp back towards the road, and came face to face, with the massive form of a Dusknoir.

Something had seemed familiar about the pokemon, and he should have felt a massive surge of fear hitting him, he seemed to feel as ease, as the pokemon stared at him.

He watched its red eye for a second, before it turned purple, and a pale purple ring shot from it, and hit Ryder, knocking him out, and sending him crumpling to the ground, once more.

Hypnosis.

Ryder fell into a dark, and much needed sleep, not sure if he would ever wake up again.

* * *

**So what did we think everyone? What do you think is going to happen now? Is Team Nova gone for good? Should Ryder become a Guardian?**

**Review your answers :)**

Also I need some new characters for the next part of the book, the more the merrier, just inbox me and we can set something up!


	23. Chapter 23: A New Beginning

**Chapter Twenty Three:**

When he woke up, Ryder was in a clean bedroom, with bright, gold walls, and a huge window, that allowed the sun to shine in.

Ryder was exhausted, and weak as he tried to sit himself up, realizing that he had no idea where he was, or how he had gotten there.

Ryder could remember almost everything that had happened to him.

He could remember his father, under the sheet in his bed, finding Team Nova, and then the house, burning with everything, or everyone inside. He remembered saving Elizabeth, and making sure she got away safely, before sinking his family's entire property into the earth, before taking hits from a Pin Missile attack, and passing out.

_My pokemon!_ Ryder thought, jumping out of the bed.

He had no shirt on, and a new pair of black jeans, but his pokebelt was gone.

Ryder started to freak out, and searched everywhere in the room, until he got a glimpse out the window.

He froze, and walked up to the glass, looking outside.

Ryder was in a massive tower, overlooking a huge, bustling city.

The skyscrapers stood like mountains, and he saw thousands of people, looking like ants, as they moved up and down the paved streets.

Beyond the city, Ryder could see sparkling waters.

An ocean.

_Where the hell am I? _Ryder asked himself. _And how did I end up here?_

Ryder heard the bedroom door open behind him, and he spun around_._

Standing in the door way, dressed in a full black suit, was Aldine.

Ryder walked towards him, glad to see a familiar face.

"How are you feeling Ryder?" Aldine asked him.

"Tired, where are my pokemon?" Ryder replied.

"They are under Guardian supervision, until the Lord decides what to do with you".

"What to do with me?" Ryder asked. "What the hell are you talking about Aldine"?

Aldine lowered his eyes.

"You attacked one of our Guardians Recruits," he said. "As well at what you did to the farm, and to Solstice".

"I destroyed Team Plasma!" Ryder argued. "I killed their leader! If anything I should be rewarded"!

Aldine shook his head. "Solstice wasn't the leader of Team Plasma," he said. "He was an executive, one of a higher ranked group of Plasmas, but he still wasn't the one we're after, and you only defeated a tiny group of Team Nova, there are hundreds of members, all over Cataria".

Ryder stayed silent for a moment, thinking over what Aldine had told him.

He had destroyed his home, lost his family, and killed, all to get revenge on a tiny group of people, who really didn't have much authority of their actions. They were only taking orders.

"So what happens now?" Ryder asked.

"I'm here to take you to Lord Grayson, which would normally be an honour," Aldine said. "But right now, it isn't a good thing".

Ryder nodded, and looked around the room, spotting a neatly folded black shirt sitting at the foot of the bed.

He quickly threw the shirt on, before walking out the door, with Aldine.

The hallway was dimly lit, and silent.

Old stone bricks lined the walls, only being broken by dozens of closed doors.

"So where are we exactly?" Ryder asked.

"This is the recruit wing, for males, of the Guardian Academy," Aldine said. "This is where the recruits live, while they train here".

"The Academy?!"

Ryder was amazed at the sheer size of the tower alone, not to mention what the rest of the building, or buildings would look like.

"So if this is a secret organization," Ryder said. "How does it stay secret in a building so large, in a massive city like this"?

"It's simple really," Aldine explained. "The building, to civilians at least, is a private, invitation only, pokemon trainer school, where we recruit 'young pokemon trainers' who seem like they could have a future as a gym leader, or other achievements".

They reached a long, spiral staircase, and he followed Aldine, until they reached the main floor.

It was a large, open room, that had PCs, a small pokemon centre, a Pokemart, and a cafe.

The doors were large , glassed paned, with a sleek steel lining.

Aldine led Ryder through the doors, into a massive courtyard, where hundreds of people, mostly around Ryder's age were training with all sorts of pokemon, some that Ryder had never seen before.

In the centre of the courtyard, there was a massive rectangular patch of empty land, with two raised stands, one on each end. In the centre was a line that went across horizontally, and a large, white pokeball-like drawing in the exact centre.

It was some sort of battle arena for the Guardians.

"This is where our recruits, and the Guardians train while attending the Academy," Aldine told him. "Our recruits learn all sorts of different battle strategies while they are here".

Suddenly Ryder heard a familiar voice, boom from the mass of trainers.

"Recruits!" He yelled. "Elder on deck"!

The entire courtyard went silent, and all of the pokemon were quickly returned to their pokeballs, as everyone stood at attention, facing Aldine, and Ryder.

He didn't like all of the eyes staring at him, but there was nothing he could do. As far as any of the Guardian recruits were concerned, he was an enemy of the region, and if given the chance, Ryder was sure that they would strike at him.

Someone moved through the crowd, and Ryder was finally able to put a face to the familiar voice.

Cole walked up to them, and shook Aldine's hand.

"Welcome back Sir," he said.

Ryder couldn't put the voice in the right place because he had never actually heard Cole shouting, not to mention give an order.

"Thank you Cole," Aldine said, before continuing to walk.

"Carry on!" Cole yelled, and suddenly, again there were pokemon everywhere.

They reached a large oak wood door, and right as they were about to pass through, Ryder could hear laughter.

He turned, and saw Xander, surrounded by a group of people their age. It looked like he was telling them some sort of story, and by the looks that some of them were giving to Ryder, it was about him.

Ryder felt his anger boiling up inside of him, and he wanted to charge at Xander once again, but Aldine put a hand on his shoulder, indicating that he should let it go.

Ryder turned away from the group, and walked through the large door, with Aldine.

The room was a massive circle, with rows of what looked like bleachers, wrapping around the room, and up the walls.

They were empty, but directly in front of him, was five chairs, four of which sat an old man, and the fifth was empty, behind them, was a huge golden throne, that must sit a giant.

Ryder guessed that the men were the other Elders, and the throne behind it, was Lord Grayson's.

The men stood as he and Aldine entered the room, closing the door behind them, and Aldine whispered to Ryder.

"Stand in the centre of the room, and only speak when asked a question," Aldine said. "And tell the truth, one of the Elders has the ability to seek out lies in the depths of a man's soul".

Ryder nodded, and Aldine patted him on the shoulder, before walking to the other Elders, and in unison, they took their seats.

Ryder walked to the centre of the circle, and waited.

For the first few minute, nothing seemed to happen, but after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the door from where he entered opened.

He didn't look back, and a moment later, a row of six Guardians, dressed in some sort of black uniforms, with a golden pokeball in the centre walked past him, and to the throne.

Ryder couldn't get a good look at the uniforms, because the room was dimly lit, like the recruit wing.

The Elders all jumped to their feet, as the door closed behind him.

Suddenly he heard a deep, and commanding voice from behind him.

"So this is the boy causing all of the ruckus around here!" The man boomed.

He instantly knew who he was about to come face to face with.

The leader, and commander of the Guardians himself.

Lord Grayson.

* * *

**Hey guys, sorry about the late post, ive been really busy this last week... But anyways, tell me what you think!**

What do you think is going to happen to Ryder.

**Who can think of where the Dusknoir keeps coming from, and why does it keep coming after Ryder?**

**Write a review with your guesses and opinions :)**


	24. Chapter 24: A Challenge

**I'm catching up on some writing this weekend, while I have time, so I got another Chapter finished today :) **

**Will I get another one done? Perhaps, but perhaps not. You'll just have to wait and see :)**

Enjoy ladies n gents

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Four:**

Ryder held his breath, as Lord Grayson walked past him.

He a was huge man, in his early fifties, at least 7ft tall, and had over 200lbs of muscle on him. He wore a black, well tailored suit, and had buzzed brown hair, and tanned skin.

He looked at his Elders, nodding, and they sat back down, then turned and walked directly to Ryder.

"Ryder Reigns I presume," the beast of a man said.

Ryder nodded.

"You've caused quite a bit of a stirring for this organization, what do you have to say for yourself"?

Ryder thought back, to him attacking Xander, and the assault on Team Nova, then he remembered Aldine's words.

_Tell the truth, one of the Elders has the ability to seek out lies in the depths of a man's soul._

"Lord Grayson," Ryder said politely. "The only explanation I have, is that I was not in control of myself".

Grayson cocked his massive head to one side.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"After I found out that my father had died," Ryder explained. "I became unbelievably angry, and suddenly, I wasn't in control of myself. I could see everything that was happening around me, but I couldn't stop it".

Lord Grayson seemed surprised, as if he knew what was going on. He turned and looked at the Elders.

"Elder Aldine," he said sternly. "Why was I not informed of this"?

Aldine stood quickly.

"We were not aware my Lord," he replied nervously. "Ryder had never shown any of the signs".

"Signs of what?" Ryder interrupted.

Aldine shot him a concerned look, that said "You better shut your mouth, before you get in trouble".

Lord Grayson turned back to face Ryder.

"You have an ability young man," he said, as he stepped closer to Ryder.

Ryder noticed the colour of his eyes, a shining steel-like silver.

"What do you mean an ability?" Ryder asked.

"It hasn't been seen since our last Elder passed away," Grayson said. "We had thought that was the last person to have something like this".

"What is it?" Ryder was getting frustrated, and wanted answers, as to what had happened to him.

"We call it Rage," Grayson said. "It's an ability that pulls out every bit of energy that you have, and forms it into something like an alter ego. In powerful cases, it can even be transferred to pokemon. You lose control of yourself, to his alter ego, and you will stop at nothing to achieve your goal".

Ryder felt very anxious.

_An alter ego? _Ryder thought. _Why didn't this surface before?_

Grayson seemed lost in thought, and Ryder shifted his eyes to the guards around him.

Each one stood at attention, staring straight ahead, but Ryder couldn't help but feel as if they were all focused on him. Each one of the guards had a full belt of pokeballs, six on each, and Ryder was sure that the pokemon inside were extremely powerful.

"So from what I've been told," Grayson said. "You have all three traits of a Guardian, you have relatives in the organization, an ability, and you wear the mark of a Guardian pokemon".

Ryder watched him.

"This trait has only been seen in two of the Guardians, since the organizations founding over one hundred years ago".

"Who were the two?" Ryder asked, once again going against Aldine's advice.

"Elder Aldine, wears the mark of a Froslass, a frost bitten shoulder," Grayson said. "And I had my mind invaded, and scarred by Elgyem".

"What abilities do you two have?" Ryder asked.

Grayson chuckled. "I am always one move ahead of my enemy, so I guess you can say I can read minds, and Aldine," he paused for a moment. "He can see brief glimpses into the future".

_See into the future?! _Ryder was absolutely furious, and he could feel his rage rising inside of him again.

Aldine knew what was going to happen, and yet he allowed Ryder's uncle, and his father to be killed!

Ryder stayed silent, but he stared at Aldine, who knew that Ryder was furious, and sat slightly anxious in his seat.

"So, I have devised a test," Grayson said. "We will see if you are worthy to become a Guardian".

"If I refuse?" Ryder said.

"Then you will be imprisoned for the rest of your natural life, for treason, and murder, not to mention attacking a Guardian".

_Well I guess a test is better than prison..._ Ryder thought.

"What's the test?" He asked.

"You will have to battle me, one on one," Lord Grayson said. "One of your pokemon against one of mine".

Ryder was shocked.

Grayson was the leader of the most powerful group in Cataria, and he just challenged Ryder to a one on one battle.

"If you win," Grayson continued. "You can take you pokemon, and choose to either become one of us, or go and live out the rest of your life".

"And if I lose?" Ryder asked.

"You go to prison, and we keep your pokemon, including the oddly coloured Swinub that I've heard so much about".

"Piloswine," Ryder corrected. "I accept your challenge".

"Excellent!" Lord Grayson exclaimed. "We shall battle at the arena in the courtyard, as soon as your pokemon are returned to you".

Ryder nodded and Grayson left the room, accompanied by his guards.

A moment later, Aldine stood, and walked over to Ryder.

In his hand was Ryder's pokebelt, with his three pokemon inside.

Ryder stared Aldine down as he walked up, and snatched the pokebelt quickly from him, before wordlessly walking out to the courtyard.

Ryder wanted nothing to do with Aldine, and would avoid him every chance he got.

As he walked out, he saw hundreds of Guardian recruits, lining the arena, waiting for the battle to get underway.

Ryder walked up the steel staircase, to the trainer platform above, as Lord Grayson did the same, from the other side. Again Ryder could feel all eyes on him, and it made him uncomfortable.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" an announcer boomed over a loud speaker. "We have a very special treat for you this afternoon! Our very own commander, Lord Grayson, has challenged this young trainer, who was, up until now, essentially a nobody"!

_Jackass._ Ryder thought.

"This battle will be a one on one match, both trainers will select one pokemon, and release it at the same time, and no matter what pokemon it is, there is no returning it until the end of the battle"!

Ryder exhaled deeply.

"Trainers," the announcer said. "Are you ready"?

Lord Grayson raised his hand high into the air, revealing a pink and purple pokeball. A Master Ball.

The crowd cheered, as Grayson prepared.

"Challenger, are you ready?"

Ryder took a deep breath, and nodded, ignoring the booing crowd, trying to focus in, and he pulled a pokeball from his belt, before wrapping the belt around himself.

"On three!" The announcer shouted.

"One".

Ryder expanded his pokeball.

"Two".

His hands were trembling.

"Three"!

Both pokeballs were launched high into the air, Piloswine, releasing low, sniffed the ground for an opponent, but Grayson's pokemon released high in the air, and was nowhere to be seen.

"Piloswine, keep an eye out," Ryder said, as he watched the sky.

Probably not the best thing to say to a pokemon whose eyes are covered in thick hair.

"NOW!" Lord Grayson yelled.

Suddenly, from high in the sky, a black and gray streak launched itself, like lightning, towards the ground, slamming hard into Piloswine, before launching high into the air again.

"What the hell?" Ryder shouted.

"Good Aerial Ace, Staraptor!" Grayson shouted.

A Staraptor, an extremely powerful, and lightning quick flying pokemon.

Ryder knew that he had the advantage with his Piloswine's ice attacks, but ground would have no chance of hitting it. IF he could score a hit at all.

Again, the Staraptor dove at Piloswine, but this time, Ryder was ready.

"Piloswine!" He shouted. "Dodge left and use Powder Snow"!

Right before Staraptor could slam into Piloswine, he rolled to the left, making the bird pokemon dig its razor sharp talons into the dirt.

Piloswine snorted loudly, and launched its Powder Snow, scoring a surprising direct hit its enemy.

Ryder looked at Lord Grayson, who seemed uncaused, and unsurprised at the attack.

"Staraptor!" He shouted. "Fly high again"!

The Staraptor was slightly injured, but tore its talons from the dirt, and launched high into the sky, out of Ryder, and Piloswine's view.

"Keep an eye out Piloswine," Ryder said anxiously.

He knew it would come for his pokemon, but he had no idea when or from what direction. Ryder was fighting blind.

Blind.

_That's it! _Ryder thought.

"Piloswine use mist!" Ryder shouted.

The thick cloud of mist rose up from the ground, enveloping the arena, so Ryder, and Lord Grayson couldn't see the ground, or Piloswine.

Ryder looked at Grayson, who was scowling, looking for a target for his pokemon.

Soon Grayson grew tired of waiting. "Aerial Ace!"

Staraptor shot straight down from the sky, and slammed into the Mist, instantly lost from view.

"Piloswine," Ryder yelled. "Blizzard"!

The Mist began to blow around violently, as the harsh snow from the Blizzard tore through it, battering anything in the vicinity.

Ryder waited, along with Grayson, as the snow stopped, and the Mist began to fade.

Piloswine stood strong, facing the Staraptor, who was laying on the ground, barely able to stand.

The crowd gasped, at their leader was being defeated, by this unknown trainer, and Grayson stood shocked at what he was witnessing.

"Staraptor!" He yelled.

Ryder couldn't believe that Grayson was going to make his pokemon continue the battle. The Predator pokemon could barely stand, and he was going to make it continue.

_I thought these people were here to help pokemon, _Ryder thought. _He's just as bad as that miner, Tom._

"Staraptor!" Grayson shouted again. "Are you alright? Can you keep going"?

Ryder actually smiled.

He was wrong to judge Grayson so quickly, thinking that he was just going to force his pokemon to battle, when in truth he was making sure his pokemon was alright.

Staraptor struggled to its feet, and stretched its wings, making sure that they were usable still, before continuing the battle.

Ryder waited, as did Piloswine, until Staraptor turned and nodded to its trainer, before they decided to make a move.

"Piloswine, use Take Down!" Ryder shouted, signalling the battle was still on.

"Staraptor, use Agility to get past the Piloswine's defences"! Grayson countered.

Piloswine charged at its opponent, but Staraptor quickly shot around behind Piloswine, before taking off again, darting up into the sky.

"Staraptor!" Grayson yelled. "Use Brave Bird"!

Staraptor dove low, and right before it hit the ground, veered towards Piloswine, parallel to the ground.

"Piloswine!" Ryder shouted. "Dodge it"!

Piloswine tried to roll out of the way, but was too slow, for the rocket-like attack.

Staraptor slammed into Piloswine, sending him flying into the air.

"Staraptor! Finish it with Close Combat"!

Staraptor shot towards Piloswine again, and started pounding and slashing him with its claws, before Piloswine hit the ground.

Staraptor broke contact, just in time, as Piloswine came crashing down, knocked out cold.

Ryder returned Piloswine, defeated, and knew what was about to happen.

Lord Grayson returned his Staraptor, waving to the cheering crowd, before walking down to the ground level, and back inside.

Ryder looked down, as the guards began to swarm at him.

* * *

**So what do we think will happen to Ryder? Will he go to prison? Will he face his demise? What will Lord Grayson do with him?**

**Hope you guys enjoyed, leave me a review with your opinions and thoughts on the questions, or just stop in and say hi!**


	25. Chapter 25: Alyx

**Hey guys, before the chapter starts, I just want to adress a few things**. **Some people think that Swinub is just a shiny pokemon, and nothing more. But I try to base most of my pokemon off of the Pokemon Anime, where there are pokemon of all colours, and no true shinies. Secondly, as for Da_Umdertoad_51's review, I was showing the endurance and power of the Guardians and their pokemon, and again I base my book off more of the anime, so there are no levels. Lastly, to TPN and Olivia, you two were right about the walking thing with John, it was my own error and I went back and fixed things, but if you do see anythin like that again, do not hesitate to say something. Now that that's out of the way, heres the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Five:**

Ryder didn't bother to try to resist as four guards grabbed a hold of him, and two more were waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

They took him back to the room he was staying in, and locked the door behind them, as they left.

Ryder sat down on the bed, and let his head droop down again, putting his hands at his sides.

Suddenly he realized that he still had on his pokebelt.

_They left me my pokemon! _Ryder thought. _How could they miss that?_

Ryder looked around, and saw a small table, next to the window, that hadn't been there when he left this morning. Sitting on the table was a mobile pokemon centre.

Someone knew that Ryder would lose, and that the guards would forget that he had his pokemon.

He stood back up and walked over, plugging in his Piloswine, before laying back down on the bed.

The battle had taken a lot out of him, and the stress from the fact that he was going to prison for the rest of his life didn't help either.

He closed his eyes, and drifted to sleep.

When Ryder awoke, it was dark, and he was still extremely tired, but something didn't seem right.

He sat up, and noticed that the lights were on, and the dorm had been completely rearranged.

It seemed like there were doubles of everything in the room now.

Two beds, two dressers, two tables, each with a mobile pokemon centre.

Ryder looked to the window, and saw that he was no longer alone.

Facing out the window was a male, a head taller than Ryder. He was heavy set, with bleach blonde hair, that went down to just about his shoulders, but he had it tied back in a pony tail. He wore a baggy t-shirt, and baggy sweatpants.

Ryder snuck out of bed, moving silently over to his mobile centre, and popped his healed Piloswine out.

_If these guys are going to try and take me to prison ,_Ryder thought. _I'm going to give them one hell of a fight!_

Ryder pulled his Bastiodon's pokeball from his belt, and held one in each hand, thumbs on the buttons, ready to battle as he crept up behind the stranger.

He kept peeking his eyes to the floor as he crept forward, making sure that there was nothing that could make a sound, as he made his approach.

When he was almost within arm's reach of the person, he began to take his final bound forward, and his foot snagged on something.

Ryder came crashing down to the hardwood floor, with a loud bang.

The trainer jumped, and spun around, as Ryder rolled over and quickly looked back, to see what had tripped him.

Standing still as stone, was a little Aron, looking at Ryder, with his head tilted, as if examining him.

Ryder jumped up, accidentally releasing his Bastiodon as he did.

Mace released from the pokeball, and crashed onto the hardwood, bending the boards in a loud creak as he did.

The trainer leapt back in fear.

"Hey!" He yelled. "I'm not going to hurt you"!

Ryder's eyes narrowed, as he stared at the trainer, who now had his Aron by his side, while Mace was next to Ryder.

He was the same age as Ryder, and was clean shaven.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryder asked. "And why the hell are you in my room"?

The trainer looked around for a moment, before answering. "I'm your roommate," he replied. "It's my room too".

"Roommate?" Ryder asked. "I'm supposed to be arrested".

The mystery trainer laughed. "Arrested? What the hell for"?

Ryder told him about the deal Lord Grayson had made with him, but left out any details as to why he was going to be arrested in the first place.

The trainer shook his head.

"Lord Grayson came back after you were taken away," he explained. "He told the entire crowd that he had never seen so much power and energy in a single pokemon before, and that the way you battled is the way the Guardians are supposed to".

Ryder didn't like the idea of showing up an entire organization of trainers, but at the same time, he thought it was kind of nice that his talents were shown in front of so many people.

He was also amazed that now he might not actually be arrested.

"I'm Ryder by the way," Ryder said. "Ryder Reigns, and this big lug here is Mace." He pointed at his pokemon, who was eyeing Aron, as if he had found a new toy.

"I'm Alyx," the trainer said. "And this is Aron, sorry about tripping you, he doesn't like to sit still".

Ryder smiled.

Ryder and Alyx shook hands, while Aron slowly approached the much larger pokemon.

The two trainers watched, as Aron made it to Mace, and gently nudged him with his iron nose.

Mace snorted, and nudged the tiny Aron in return, rolling him onto his back.

Aron squeaked furiously, as it tried to roll back over, but wasn't able too, so Alyx had to flip his pokemon back over.

Ryder smiled, but walked up to his Bastiodon, staring at him face to face.

"Hey," Ryder said, pointing at his pokemon. "Be good," he said sternly.

Bastiodon lowered his head, as if he was going to charge at Ryder, but Ryder just rolled his eyes, and returned his pokemon.

"Tough guy," Ryder said sarcastically.

He heard Alyx laugh behind him, and Aron returning to his own pokeball.

The two new trainers hung out and talked for four hours, about their lives.

Ryder felt comfortable enough with Alyx already to tell him about Glacia, and the attack on his farm, the only details that he left out were Articuno, and the book.

Alyx was from the Unova region. His father was a Gym Leader named Burgh, who used bug pokemon. Alyx had told his father that he wanted to see the world, and wasn't much of a fan of bug pokemon, so Burgh made a few calls, and the next thing that Alyx knew, he was heading to the academy.

"So do you have any other pokemon?" Ryder asked.

"I have Aron," Alyx replied. "And I have a Chikorita. What about you? I've already met Mace, and I watched your Piloswine, but that's all that I saw, do you have anything else"?

Ryder nodded. "My father, before he passed away, raised Eevees on our ranch, I was given one and he's becoming quite the tracker".

Ryder ran a finger across Eevees pokeball.

He felt a bit bad that Eevee wasn't used much in battle, but he was stronger as a tracker, than he was as a fighter. Ryder had Piloswine and Mace for that.

Alyx was a hyper, bubbly guy, and extremely friendly. Ryder didn't know anyone like that when he was in Glacia, so it was a bit of a change, but he liked his new roommate.

Alyx told him that tomorrow, the new recruits would all be inaugurated into the Guardians, so they needed to be ready.

Soon both trainers grew tired once again, and they returned to their beds, awaiting the morning, to see what would truly happen.

* * *

**So what do we think of the newest character in the book guys? Will alyx turn into an ally? Or is he secretly an enemy?**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Legends of Cataria, thank you all for the support :)**

**As always, post your thoughts, and comments with a review :)**


	26. Chapter 26: Inauguration

**Alright guys here it is, the inauguration into the Guardians, if thats what it really is... **

**Just wait and see, some secrets may be revealed, and a new companion introduced!**

**Enjoy guys :)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Six:**

The next morning, the two trainers woke up, and got themselves ready.

Ryder took his turn quickly in the small bathroom that was in their dorm, and then Alyx.

They quickly got dressed, Ryder wearing another black t-shirt, and black jeans, while Alyx wore a white undershirt, with a pale blue button up shirt overtop, and blue jeans.

They sat down, and continued to talk for a couple of hours, Alyx releasing his Aron, and Chikorita, while Ryder released Eevee. Piloswine and Mace were both too large to be released in such a small place.

The pokemon played for a few minutes, while their trainers watched them, but soon Eevee jumped up onto Ryder's bed, and curled up next to him, while Chikorita stared out the window.

Alyx reached into his bag, and pulled out a small wooden bowl, and then filled it with nails.

Ryder stared at him, wondering what the hell he was doing, and when Alyx placed the bowl on the ground, Aron bounded towards it, and began to chomp on the nails.

"Aron, and his evolutions," Alyx explained. "Eat iron, as opposed to normal pokemon food to keep healthy".

"Well that's different," Ryder commented.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Once we were out for a walk, and Aron actually bit a chunk out of a railroad track"!

Ryder laughed.

For everything that had happened to Ryder over the last couple of weeks, he couldn't believe how normal he felt. His family was all dead, his home was destroyed, and he found out that he had some sort of insane other person living inside of him. Ryder knew that he should be curled up in a ball somewhere, but something was telling him to keep going, and push forward, as if everything would be alright.

There was a quick knock on the door, and one of the guards from Grayson's "courtroom" walked in.

"Ryder and Alyx?" he asked.

Ryder stared, unsure of what was about to happen.

Alyx nodded.

"Return your pokemon, and come with me please," the guard said politely.

The two trainers stood up, and returned their pokemon, Ryder grabbing his pokebelt, and clipping the pokeballs on quickly, before wrapping the belt around his waist, not planning on going wherever they were headed unprepared. Alyx threw his pokeballs into his bag, and put it on his back, the three of them walked out the door.

They walked through the halls, where hundreds of Guardians, and recruits were all filing towards the courtyard, and the arena where Ryder had battled the day before.

The Guardians separated and went to the bleachers, while the recruits were brought out onto the arena floor, where they were put into alphabetical order, facing a podium.

There had to be hundreds of Guardians in the bleachers, all watching the new recruits, and about a hundred recruits themselves.

Ryder looked around, and saw Alyx, standing four rows ahead of him. He was cracking his knuckles nervously.

The crowd was loud, all talking about what they were going to do with their new authority if they passed their tests in the academy, while the Guardians spoke of who they thought would get the highest scores in each different class.

Ryder thought he heard his name, spoken throughout the recruits, and he could feel eyes on him.

There was a loud bang, like the sound of a massive bass drum being struck, and the crowd quickly fell silent.

Ryder looked around for just a brief second, but when he looked back to the podium, Lord Grayson was there, standing proud, with three guards on each side.

Each of the guards had a single pokeball in their hand.

"Guardians and Recruits!" Lord Grayson said, his voice resonating through the entire courtyard. "Once again, the time has come for a new generation of Guardians to ride up, and protect the pokemon of Cataria, and the world"!

Ryder watched Grayson. He seemed so proud, and was clearly a great speaker, with the ability to easily hold the crowd.

"As Guardians," Grayson continued. "You will be sworn to protect the pokemon of Cataria, at all costs, and do whatever it takes to preserve our natural beauty, and the wonders of this world. You will pass through numbers of intense classes, each caught by a specialized Guardian Instructor, who will teach you everything you need to know to make it to your final testing, which will be decided by the Elders, after you have completed three years of Guardian training".

_Three years is a hell of a long time..._ Ryder thought to himself. _But it'll be worth it to finish off Team Nova, once and for all. _

Ryder felt Rage suddenly spike inside of him, as the thought crossed his mind of destroying Nova again.

Ryder had decided to name his alter ego "Rage". He figured if it would be a part of him, he might as well get used to it, and maybe in time, he would be able to control it.

"Each of you were handpicked by a number of our Guardians some of you have family ties in the organization, some of you show amazing promise as trainers, or in other fields, and few of you were chosen because you have mysterious and powerful energies, or wear a mark of a Guardian Pokemon," Grayson paused for a moment, and looked across the long rows of the Recruits, before continuing on. "All of you will begin your training as a Guardian, but only some of you will finish".

Ryder knew that he had to be one of those trainers who would pass the tests.

"Before I begin, I would like to say something that was said to me by a very old, and dear friend of mine," Grayson said. "This man was one of our absolute best Guardians, and will forever be a legend to our organization".

Grayson cleared his throat.

"Pokemon are not tools of war, they are our friends, our family, and our companions. They should not be used for evil, and pokemon who are lost to us, should never leave our hearts, or our minds," Grayson said. "That was the words of one of our legendary Guardians, Guardian John Reigns Senior".

Ryder's eyes went wide, and he felt as if Grayson was staring right at him.

_So my grandfather wasn't just an adventure, but a Guardian! _Ryder thought. _Maybe I can get some answers as to what really did happen to him! _

"Now, I shall call each of you up by name, and you will step forward," Grayson said, addressing the Recruits. "You will be given three pokeballs each to choose from, whatever one you pick, will be the newest, or first addition to your pokemon party. Your new companion as you begin your new lives".

Grayson began to call names up alphabetically, and Ryder watched as each Recruit stepped forward, and Grayson would hold out a small silver box. The Recruit would reach into the box, some quickly, some thinking about what one to choose, face the other Recruits, and Guardians, and release the pokemon.

Some of the pokemon, Ryder recognized, the flying pokemon, some fire pokemon, and a lot of normal types, and others, mostly water, and bug types, Ryder had never seen before.

All different sizes, colours, and types were chosen by the Recruits, before they returned their new pokemon back to their pokeball, and walked back to their dorms.

Ryder watched intently, as Alyx's name was called.

Alyx quickly took off towards the stage, almost knocking over some of the other recruits as he ran.

He reached the podium, he and Lord Grayson exchanged a few words quietly, before slowly reaching into the box.

After a brief second, he pulled out his choice, and released it.

The small blue pokemon plopped to the ground, its purple antennas sticking out from each side of its head twitched once or twice, before it turned and looked at its new trainer.

"Woopa!" It called excitedly.

Alyx seemed happy with his choice, but cautious as to not touch it.

Ryder could see some sort of clear liquid oozing out of it, and he wasn't sure what it was.

Some of the Guardians, and the Recruits sniggered at the pokemon, as Alyx returned it and walked off of back to the dorm, as if the pokemon was weak or useless.

Ryder waited nervously, until his name was called, and he took the walk up to the podium.

It seemed like the podium was miles away, as everyone had their eyes on him, as if they hadn't expected him to be in the Recruit crowd, of at least hoping he wouldn't be.

Ryder reached the podium, and stared at Lord Grayson, who shook his hand firmly.

"Welcome to the Guardians, Recruit Reigns," Grayson said. "I was amazed at your ability to hold your own against my Staraptor, so even though you lost our battle, you will still be inducted to our organization".

"Thank you Lord Grayson," Ryder replied.

Grayson held up the small silver box. "Choose wisely Recruit".

Ryder peered inside the box, and saw three identical pokeballs facing him.

He stood there looking at each one, as if waiting for one to stand out to him.

Ryder picked up a pokeball, the far right one, and suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

He dropped the ball, and the feeling disappeared.

_What the hell? _He asked himself.

He picked up the centre pokeball, and his hand felt like it had been stabbed through the palm.

He almost threw the ball back into the box, and actually checked his hand for a mark.

After seeing none, and being "assaulted" by two of the pokeballs, he was extremely hesitant as he grabbed the final, pokeball, the far left one.

As his fingers closed around it, he felt a cooling sensation, as if water had been poured on his arm.

He pulled the ball back, before turning back towards the other Recruits, lightly tapping the centre button releasing his new pokemon.

The small red river crab dropped to the ground, and turned to face Ryder, observing his new trainer, before walking around Ryder in circles, walking sideways.

Ryder had never really seen many water types before, seeing as the water around his home town was usually frozen over for most of the year.

The crowd stayed silent, no one saying anything as Ryder walked back towards the dorm, into the building.

* * *

**So what did we think? Ryder's grandfather was a Guardian? A legend at that? And a new pokemon for Ryder as a symbol of a new life!**

**The story is almost at its closing guys, but of course there will be a new one after this, I need some characters to be Guardians, at least one female, and as many guys as I can get, pm me in ur interested.**

**I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, leave me a review with your thoughts, and comments :)!**


	27. Chapter 27: A Whole New Life!

**I got nothing to say about this chapter except enjoy :)!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Seven:**

Ryder returned to his dorm, feeling strange.

He was happy that he had been given his new pokemon, but at the same time, something was going on, and Ryder didn't know what to really do at this point.

There was no way that he could run away from the Academy, the Guardians would be able to take him out in no time, but Ryder thought if he stayed, he could become a Guardian, and possibly stop Team Nova.

Ryder felt like a puppet on strings, with some unforeseen puppet master pulling the strings.

As Ryder walked into the dorm, and sat on his bed, Alyx was looking over his Wooper, inspecting it for something.

"What are you doing?" Ryder asked.

"I'm just getting every detail on my new friend," Alyx replied.

After Alyx had finished his inspection, he stood up, and walked over to his bag, pulling out a sketch book, and some pencils, and furiously began to draw.

Ryder sat there for a few moments watching him, before releasing his new Krabby, who began side walking around the room, looking over everything.

"Hey little guy," Ryder said, cautiously.

He wasn't sure of his new Pokémon's nature quite yet, so he wanted to be careful.

Ryder left the bed, and slowly approached the little red river crab, who was eyeing him intently.

He crouched down within arm's reach of the pokemon, and just stared.

Suddenly, Krabby's mouth began to fill with bubbles, and they flowed down his face, like he had rabies.

Ryder wasn't sure what was going on, so he didn't want to move.

"That's one of Krabby's defensive tactics," Alyx said. "It blows bubbles like that, to make himself seem bigger, and tougher"

"Oh, so you're a tough guy," Ryder said jokingly. "You seem a little small still buddy".

That seemed to anger his Krabby a little bit. The bubbles began to form more rapidly, and it began to snap it claws, trying to look dangerous.

Ryder smiled, and started to laugh, and all of a sudden, Krabby shot the bubbles forward, hitting Ryder in the face, and knocking him back.

Ryder landed on his back, and Krabby had quickly climbed onto his chest, and was staring Ryder down again.

It reached out with one claw, and snapped it shut, less than an inch from Ryder's nose, making him tense, before hopping down and running sideways around Ryder, as he stood up.

"Hmmmm," Ryder said. "So you're a jokester then"?

Krabby stopped, looked at Ryder, and snapped its claws once, before continuing to run around, all over the room.

Ryder smiled again, and thought for a moment.

Krabby needed a name of his own, and the claws gave Ryder the perfect idea.

"Hey Alyx," Ryder called. "Can I borrow a pencil"?

Alyx nodded, and reached into his bag, pulling out a pencil, and tossing it to Ryder.

"Krabby! Come over here for a sec"!

Krabby scuttled his way over to Ryder.

"Krrrrr" He said.

Ryder carefully placed the pencil between Krabby's claws, and stepped back.

Krabby analyzed the pencil for a moment, before snapping his claw closed, shattering the pencil with surprising force.

"Hey!" Alyx cried. "That was one of my good pencils"!

Ryder stared at his pokemon.

"Vice," he said. "I'll call you Vice".

Krabby snapped his claws quickly, and returned to his exploring, while Ryder, avoiding Alyx's scowling look, sat back on the bed.

"So," Ryder said. "What do you think is going to happen next"?

"Well, were going to have to get our course outlines tomorrow, then we start our training. The few that pass the first few years will be given a test, to see whether they can truly be called Guardians, and one will be taken to a higher level".

"A higher level?" Ryder asked.

Alyx nodded. "When the final tests are completed, those who pass are sent to be Guardians, protecting pokemon all over the world, those who fail are sent home, and one person, the top of the class, is sent somewhere different. No one really knows where they go, but they don't usually come back, until they have retired, and are living the lavish life somewhere".

_He must be talking about the Legendary Guardians, _Ryder thought. _Aldine, Brandon Saunders, and my uncle_.

"Could they be out protecting legendary pokemon?" Ryder asked.

Alyx began to laugh. "Cataria doesn't have legendary pokemon, you should know that," he said. "And even if Guardians were in other regions protecting them, wouldn't we know more about them"?

Ryder just nodded.

So, either Aldine was lying to Ryder about the legendaries, or the Guardians have a very special secret.

There was a knock on the door, and Alyx jumped up to answer it, while Ryder returned Vice to his pokeball.

Ryder heard the familiar voice, and began to feel Rage rising up inside of him once again.

"May I speak to Recruit Reigns in private please?"

Aldine.

Alyx looked at Ryder, before stepping into the hall, and was replaced by the Elder.

Ryder jumped up off the bed, Rage rising up inside of him, bubbling over.

"What do you want Aldine," Ryder said. His voice sounded powerful and threatening.

"I'm just here to talk Ryder," Aldine replied.

"Then talk".

"I know that the Lord told you about my gift, but he didn't explain how it worked," the Elder said. "When I have a vision, I can see what is going to happen, but there is nothing that I can do to change it".

"You still could have told me!" Ryder yelled. Rage was defiantly bursting through, and Ryder couldn't stop him. "I could have done something"!

"There was nothing that you, or anyone else could have done Ryder, not even your ability could stop this from happening, all that would come out of telling you, would be you becoming upset, and trying something stupid to try and change the unchangeable".

Ryder hated Aldine for not telling him, but he could understand why he didn't.

If Ryder had known what was about to happen, Rage would have done so much more damage than what had happened at the ranch, and he probably would have gotten himself killed.

"Just so you know," Aldine continued. "Cole was able to save your mother and sister, along with their pokemon, before Nova was able to get to them, they are staying with a group of Guardian family members in a secret location".

Ryder's heart leapt, and Rage instantly disappeared into the depths of Ryder's soul once again. He was overjoyed to finally hear good news coming from the Guardians, especially that his family were in fact safe.

"Cole also found this in your room, while he was securing the area".

Aldine pulled out a small package wrapped in brown paper, with a white envelope on top.

Ryder stepped forward, and took the package from Aldine, nodding in thanks, still not sure how he felt about the old man.

"Lastly," Aldine said. "I'm here to say sorry for everything that has happened to you and your family".

Ryder looked down.

"The worst things always happen to the best of people". With that Aldine walked out.

Ryder sat on the bed once again, and looked at the package for a moment.

The envelope had Ryder's name on it, but he didn't recognize the writing.

He pulled off the envelope, and opened it.

_Dearest Ryder. _

_There is so much I do need to say to you..._

_I think I am going to start with Anthony. _

_Now I know things may have seemed bad, or like we were together. But in reality, we are not, and probably never will be. He is friend I met when researching rock pokemon in Roggenrolla Valley. Anthony offered to let me see the cave system due to the fact that I could not enter without such personnel, or the proper pokemon... (seeing as I only had Spook at the time...) Also, I do want to tell you this. Anthony and I had been writing each other, thinking maybe one day when I WAS READY, we could be together, but now meeting a person such as yourself, I don't think this possible. _

_Next, the Eevee. I want to formally thank you, and your father for this wonderful pokemon I now have as a life companion. Snowy, fits in really well with myself and Spook. Maybe one day, Snowy and your Eevee can have pups together, as your fathers did. _

_The time we had together started out on an awkward foot, thanks to Spook being protective - sorry again about him. But him and I learned tracking skills from you, and got the info needed about Ice pokemon to continue with our research. I promised you a pokeball, and I intend on keeping this promise, write me back so I have your address and such information for when I finish, and can send you it for your quirky but cute as heck Swinub. Even though you almost got me KILLED by Sneasels, I had an amazing time that I will never forget. _

_I got you a gift... It is enclosed in the letter. I didn't quite know that evolution, you may have wanted Eevee to be. So I picked Electric for you. Because you sent a spark in my heart, that I will never forget. _

_Thank you Ryder Reigns, for everything. _

_With love and some regret, _

_Lizy Diotte. _

Ryder smiled to himself.

Things had been rough, and his mind had been elsewhere, but Ryder really did miss Lizy a lot. After he finished his training, or maybe even sooner, Ryder knew that he really needed to go and see her.

He felt terrible for everything that she had to go through, and needed to make amends.

Ryder just hoped that she wanted to see him still, even after being kidnapped because of him, and seeing his dark side.

Ryder placed the letter down next to him, and opened up the package.

Inside was a polished wooden box, with a lightning bolt carved into it.

There was a silver latch on the front, and when Ryder popped it open, and lifted the top of the box, he almost thought it was a joke.

The inside of the box was a golden yellow fabric, and the inside top of the box was polished silver, like a mirror.

The contents of the box was the most surprising of all.

There was a chunk of stone, a pale green in colour, with a bright yellow lightning bolt in the centre.

Lizy had gotten him a Thunderstone.

Ryder knew exactly what he wanted to do with it, and he felt like he should do it now.

He released Eevee from his pokemon, allowing him to come to Ryder, and rub his head on Ryder's leg, before slowly holding out the stone.

Ryder didn't know how a stone really worked, or what he was supposed to do with it, so he figured that Eevee, evolving mainly from stones, might have some idea.

The furry pokemon sniffed the Thunderstone once, before barking once, and rubbing up against it.

Eevee and the stone both began to glow a bright white, signalling the evolution.

Ryder smiled and watched.

_A new evolution, for a new life._ Ryder thought.

He had no idea how much of a new life he was about to begin, but knew that it was time to start living.

**End Of Part One**

* * *

**So what did you guys think? Whats next for Ryder? Will he go back and see Lizy again? How do you think his life with the Guardians will end up? What did you guys think of the overall book?**

**Thank you to everyone who's read the first installation of Legends of Cataria! Special thanks to Pokestets23, WildCroconaw, and the Pokenerd, along with all of my loyal readers who have remained anoymous!**

Review your comments, and thought on the first book, and pm me if your interested in being in the second!


	28. Pokemon: Guardians of Cataria UPDATE!

**Hey guys, for anyone who's still interested in the book, Part Two has been released! I know right, took me long enough! There's already a few chapters up, and always more to come, so if your still interested in the adventures of Ryder Reigns, and Lizy Diotte, so you just want to see how things progress, Part Two is called: Pokemon: Guardians Of Cataria. Check it out! Also, Lizy has her side of the story now, so if your interested check her out too! ITs got the prologue from before her and Ryder met, and also what happens during, and after Glacia, whenever Ryder isn't around, along with her feelings. So if your interested, the username is TazieD and the story is called Elizabeths Cataria.**

**Now stop reading this and go check out the other two books! Fly my pretties! FLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!**

**Ryder**


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